The Howling
by Starchii
Summary: [Sequel to A Test of Insanity] [TenXHidan, InoXDei, ItaXSaku] It has been three long years since the last time Tenten saw the man from her nightmares and, with the help of Hyuuga Neji, is mostly ready to move on, even though her longing still remains...
1. The Party Crashers

**A/N: Well everybody, it's finally here!! The awaited sequel of A Test of Insanity is finally here and I couldn't be more excited. I've been preparing for this since the sixth chapter. I hope all my previous readers have decided to join me on this journey and I also hope that I might pick up some new faces. Again, thank you to everyone that helped make A.T.o.I so popular. Just wanted to let everyone know that I have only two reviews to go before I reach my goal for A Test of Insanity, which is 200 reviews.**

**This chapter is dedicated to Kyle, for listening to me and tolerating me while I write these stories, Ali and Mike, for always being there for me, FreeFallJumper, for inspiring me with every single review, shilhouette68, for just being plain awesome and filling your reviews with helpful hints, and narutardedbandgeek, for helping me improve my ability to write by giving me some constructive criticism.**

**Inspiration Music: The Howling by Within Temptation, A Little Piece of Heaven by Avenged Sevenfold, and Tourniquet by Evanescence.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. ­–Insert witty banter here-**

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_Prologue: Party Crashers_

_Cause I really always knew that my little crime  
Would be cold that's why I got a heater for your thighs  
And I know, I know it's not your time but bye bye  
And a word to the wise when the fire dies  
You think it's over but it's just begun  
But baby don't cry  
__  
From A Little Piece of Heaven by Avenged Sevenfold_

It's been three long years…and I will never forgive you for what you've done.

A beautiful girl stood at the top of the stairs arm in arm with an equally beautiful man. The girl wore her long brown hair down, letting it stream gracefully past her shoulders. Her chocolate brown eyes were alight with the lights of the party that was going on below her, but behind the happy exterior you could easily see a hardness that only came with pain. Covering her lithe body was a perfectly black dress that clung to her curves and ended just above her ankles showing a matching pair of heels, the straps of which curled around her feet and disappeared under her dress.

The man standing with her also had long flowing brown hair. His pale, pupil-less eyes danced with the light from the chandelier that hung just above the pair. Around his muscled body was a traditional black tuxedo with a white rose sticking out of the pocket above the left side of his chest.

Calmly, the pale-eyed man looked over at his partner. She glanced up at him and nodded once before looking once again at the party below them. He heaved his chest in a sigh before turning to a man next to them. The man smiled and cleared his throat, gathering the attention of everyone below them.

"Now presenting the woman of the hour and her escort, Tenten and Hyuuga Neji," the small man said loudly so everyone across the spacious ballroom could hear him. Immediately following his proclamation, a loud burst of applause exploded in the room. The couple let out simultaneous sighs before beginning to descend slowly down the stairs. They walked in step with each other as though they were marching to a funeral dirge that only the two of them could hear. As soon as they reached the bottom of the stairs, a loud, boisterous blonde boy ran to them yelling out congratulations.

"Tenten! Congratulations! I'm just angry that you became a Jounin before me," he said as he skidded to a halt before them. Tenten smiled lightly and gave the boy a pat on the shoulder.

"Don't worry Naruto, one day you'll become Hokage," she said in a voice that sounded strained. Neji nodded to Naruto before leading his partner away from him, knowing that she wanted nothing more than to be alone. They walked to a small banquet table and took a seat in two of the perfectly crafted, wooden chairs. Tenten immediately let her happy façade drop as she stared solemnly at the table.

"This isn't right…I should be sharing this day with them, I shouldn't be the only one to become a Jounin," she said in a soft voice so only Neji could hear her. Neji sighed and placed a comforting hand on her back.

"It's not your fault they couldn't be here, they have to stay in the hospital," he said in a comforting tone. Tenten glanced over at him a let out an aggravated sigh.

"That's not what I mean…I mean I should be sharing this with them as in all three of us should have been descending those stairs," she said glancing longingly at the long, elegant staircase. Suddenly, the blonde boy appeared once more at Tenten's side.

"Hey, again congrats but I have to leave and Tsunade-obaa-san told me I should tell you," Naruto said with a small smile adorning his features. Tenten gave him a small, sad smile in return.

"Okay, where do you have to be in such a hurry?" She asked with a bit more life to her words than when she had been talking to Neji. Naruto's smile slowly faded as he looked to the wooden floor.

"Well, I have to go see Sakura-chan. Yesterday, she actually gave me a small sign that she somewhat remembers me!" Naruto said looking back up at the weapons specialist. Immediately Tentens smile fell from her face at the words.

"Oh, well then…tell her I said hello," she said in a small voice while looking back down at the table. She felt Neji's hand begin to play soothingly with her long, brown hair.

"Tenten, you know I can't do that," she heard him say before turning around and leaving the grand ballroom. The words battered Tentens heart mostly because she knew the very truth behind them. Suddenly, the hired orchestra began to play a sweet, slow harmony on their instruments, waking Tenten out of her stupor.

"Come on Tenten, lets go dance and get your mind off of this," Neji said as he stood and grabbed her hand, helping her stand. Deliriously, Tenten followed him onto the dance floor only vaguely noticing people make way for the two.

She felt Neji place a hand on her hip and followed his movements by placing her hand gently onto his shoulder, taking his free hand into her own. Tenten glanced up into the eyes of Hyuuga Neji and felt a small smile form on her lips. He had been there for her ever since that fateful night three years ago.

Flashback

Tenten ran down the street, tears flowing unrestricted down her cheeks. Rain poured down onto her body, chilling her very core. At the moment, she had no idea where she was going she only knew she wanted to get away from that damned diary. After remembering everything about her stay with the Akatsuki, she was overcome with a dreadful sense of need. Need for a S-class criminal that had willingly ruined her life.

It was with that thought that she took off running down the street. Somewhere along the way rain had begun to pour from the clouds dutifully and now here she was on a mad journey to only Kami knew where.

Her lungs began to burn from the cold as she pumped her arms faster and faster just trying to reach some form of destination. Suddenly her feet betrayed her and she slipped in a puddle that had formed on the street she was currently on. Falling face first on the ground, she let out a choked sob. Shakily she got to her feet and took a look at her surroundings. Apparently her feet had taken her to the rich portion of Konoha.

Glancing to her left, she found some solace when she saw the spacious Hyuuga compound looming beside her. Not having anywhere better to go, she walked over to the gate and was pleased when the guards recognized her as Neji's teammate and allowed her to pass. Once she was out of sight of the guards, Tenten took off running again towards the branch families building.

She skidded to a stop in front of the only recognizable room in the entire compound. Praying to whatever god there was up there that Neji was there; she knocked on his bedroom door. After a few minutes and no answer, she heaved her shoulders in a sob and turned around to leave.

"Tenten, is that you?" She heard a voice say from behind her. Her eyes widened in shock as she flipped around to see the form of what she felt to be her only friend at the moment. Tears once again began to flow from her eyes as she ran back towards him and gathered him in a rather wet hug. Shocked for a moment, Neji patted her back.

"Tenten, what the hell is wrong?" He asked as he grabbed her arms gently and pulled them apart slightly so he could see her face. Tenten looked into his eyes for a moment before she averted her gaze to the wooden floor.

"I-I don't know…I-I just needed someone to be with," she said as she rubbed her left arm nervously. Neji blinked before guiding her inside his room.

"Well then, I'll be with you," he said simply before beginning to make a pot of tea.

End Flashback

Tenten was knocked out of her reverie when Neji began to glide across the dance floor, taking her with him. She gave her dance partner a smile before following his lead perfectly. The pair glided effortlessly across the dance floor, matching time perfectly with the music being played by the talented instrumentalists. Suddenly a man placing a hand on Neji's shoulder interrupted their beautiful dance. The duo stopped and looked at the man.

The man was wearing a tux that was perfectly contradictory to Neji's. Instead of a traditional black tuxedo like Neji's, the man wore a flawless white one. And sitting just above the left side of his chest was a deep red rose looking almost black in the light of the chandelier. Across his eyes and nose he wore a white mask, hiding most of his countenance from the pair. But what stuck out the most on the man were his silver locks of hair that fell around his face, framing it perfectly.

Tenten stared at the man wondering why he seemed slightly familiar even though she had never seen him anywhere around the village. Hidans face flashed across her minds eyes but she immediately set that idea behind her seeing as the man before her let his silver hair fall freely while Hidan kept his hair gelled back. And the one thing that caused her doubt to clear was the missing prayer beads that usually sat dutifully around his neck, and being the person he was Tenten just couldn't see him ever taking them off. Thus, she dubbed him a stranger or possibly a member of the ANBU.

"Uh, excuse me for interrupting but I wanted to share a dance with the new Jounin," the stranger said staring into Tentens eyes without hesitance. Neji's grip tightened around her hip but she gave him a small reassuring smile.

"Don't worry Neji, I can take care of myself and I would love to share a dance with you," she said with a smile at the man. He smirked as Neji moved aside and was asked to dance by a sweet looking kunoichi. Giving one last hesitant look at Tenten, Neji accepted the offer and began a dance with the kunoichi.

Tenten turned her attention back to the man and gave him a smile. He smirked in return and placed his hand on her hip while she laid her smaller hand on his shoulder. They linked their hands together and began to sweep across the ballroom floor.

"So, all this fuss over just a kunoichis promotion," her partner said over the sounds of talking and music. Tenten looked up at him and gave out a small laugh.

"No, it's for me being promoted and Tsunade-sama's birthday," she said as he led her through delicate dance steps.

"Hm, I know, I was teasing you," he said with a smirk. Tenten gave him a forced smile, inwardly not pleased with the tease.

"Oh, I see," she said simply, becoming slightly uncomfortable with the dance and she felt an undeniable pressure begin to sink into her.

"So, I see you have a new boyfriend," he said as Tenten struggled for air, sweat beginning to form on her brow.

"Who? N-Neji…well maybe I consider him someone of high importance but I don't really want a boyfriend," she said her words becoming strained. Suddenly, the lights of the chandelier began to flicker as though someone was playing with the electricity until they finally gave out leaving only darkness to settle over the dancers. The musicians stopped playing and the people of the party began to chatter nervously. Luckily, there was still some light as the moons beams streamed in through the three large windows.

Tenten really started to pant for breath now and attempted to escape her current dance partner so she could search for Neji but just as she began to pull away, the man grabbed her wrist tightly and pulled her body against his. With his free hand, he reached up and pulled his mask off revealing to the stunned kunoichi a pair of shocking violet eyes. Fear immediately seeped throughout Tentens veins as he stared intently into her chocolate brown eyes.

"That's good, Panda, because I've discussed it with Jashin-sama and he wants me to have you," he whispered against her neck, sending chills down her spine.

"H-Hidan," she rasped out. He smirked down at her at her recognition. The sound of the people around them slowly began to disappear as she stared into his intense violet eyes. For what felt like forever there was only the two of them in the giant ballroom and the silence weighed heavily upon her body.

Suddenly, the silence was broken by the sound of one of the large glass windows shattering. A scream echoed throughout the partiers as a body flew through the window, a body with distinctly blonde hair.

"Naruto!" Tenten shouted through the crowd, hoping beyond hope that he was alive. She heard Hidan grunt beside her.

"Humph, he must've gotten in the way of that damn artist freak," he said as mass chaos erupted in the large ballroom. Tenten knew exactly who he was talking about, Uchiha Itachi. She also knew that judging by his statement, he wasn't alone.

"Then you mean Deidara-san is here also," she breathed out, not trusting her voice to rise any higher.

"Tenten!"

Tenten flipped around at the sound of her name, already looking for the voice it belonged to. Soon, she was staring into the pale eyes of her savior. She smiled with barely constrained relief flooding her features, but just as she was about to call out his name in response a hand slapped across her mouth and began to drag her away through the mounting chaos of the ballroom.

A solid glare formed on her features as she struggled against his grip trying to release herself from his powerful hold on her. With a strangled cry of sheer force, she managed to land a solid kick on his shin causing him double over in pain. Barely able to contain her joy, she ducked under is arms and skidded a safe distance away from her captor.

Without hesitation she ripped off a small portion of the bottom of her dress so it now reached just above her kneecaps, to allow for easier movement. The movement also revealed a hidden weapons scroll strapped securely to her thigh. Swiftly she bit down on her thumb and swiped her crimson blood across the milky white parchment. Immediately, a small black staff appeared in her hand with a small button on the side of the wooden contraption. Never faltering, she pressed down on the button and watched with satisfaction as the seemingly harmless staff grew to twice her height and smiled as a blade popped out of both ends of her weapon.

Hidan looked up in mild surprise at the spectacle. Noticing his stare, Tenten graced him with a smirk.

"I'm not a little girl anymore," she said, her voice dripping venom.

"Wow, panda, now you have toys for us to play with," he said with a smirk marring his usual lazy features. As Tenten stared into his eyes for the first time in three years, she felt that terrible longing well up inside of her once again, eating at her heart. She closed her eyes tightly, trying to block out the sight of him, and trying to block out the feelings that he brought into her soul. Her fists began to shake and she grasped her weapon even tighter before snapping her eyes open. With a scream, she threw herself towards him hoping to inflict damage upon him. Using every amount of courage and energy she had, Tenten ran at him with her double-sided spear raised above her head.

"I HATE YOU!" She screamed as she tackled him to the ground only to produce laughter in Hidan.

"Seriously, Panda, if you wanted me down on the ground this bad all you had to do was ask," he said sarcastically. Tenten raised her spear higher and, with another yell, began to bring it down towards his heart.

Blood splattered against her face as she hit the mark perfectly. 'Straight through the heart,' she thought as she began to lift herself from him, that is, before his hand grasped her weapon tightly, yanking it from her hands. Shock and disbelief settled into her as he pushed her off, her back slamming hardly onto the wooden floor of the ballroom. Quickly, she scrambled to her feet trying to get as far away from him as possible.

"Too bad I'm immortal, huh?" Hidan said with a dangerous smirk playing on his lips, before he retracted the blades of the spear. With a grunt, he swung the staff at her, hitting her square in the head and making her world go black.

The only thing Tenten heard as her body fell haphazardly to the ground was her name being screamed by her best friend and the insane laughter of her lover.

_My wounds cry for the grave  
My soul cries for deliverance  
Will I be denied?  
Christ-tourniquet-my suicide_

_From Tournequet by Evanescence_

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**A/N: Well, there you go all! I hope this makes up for the strange ending of A Test of Insanity. Oh, and if you're reading this going, "What the fuck?" I apologize…I wanted chapter to be confusing and different because that's the way I planned it.**

**Anyways, please review…I need all the inspiration I can get right now…**


	2. Delusional

**A/N: Hello all! I'm back with the second chapter of this wonderful sequel! I'm really excited about all the reviews I got for the first chapter even though I made a couple of mistakes that I should have picked up on and fixed but whatever. Oh and on a note, just thought I'd let you know that Itachi wasn't with Hidan and Deidara…it was just one of my many mistakes that I used his name instead of Deidara-kun's.**

**This chapter is dedicated to Kyle, for being ever faithful through everything, Mike and Ali, for being my best friends during and through it all, FreeFallJumper, for being both an inspirational and hilarious reviewer, narutardedbandgeek, for having both constructive criticism and praise to offer, shilhouette68, for everything (seriously I can't think of just one thing to thank her for), and black55widow, for giving me advice in the nicest way possible and being an awesome reviewer.**

**Inspiration Music: The Howling by Within Temptation, Imaginary by Evanescence, Time After Time by Quietdrive, and Afterlife by Avenged Sevenfold.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but I truly believe that it would be bitching if I did.**

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_Chapter 2: Delusional_

_I don't belong here, I gotta move on dear, escape from this afterlife  
__Cause this time I'm right to move on and on, far away from here  
__Got nothing against you and surely I'll miss you  
__This place full of peace and light, and I'd hope you might  
__Take me back inside when the time is right_

_From Afterlife by Avenged Sevenfold_

Tenten groaned slightly as she threw her body over onto its side. Slowly, her senses began to come back and she searched desperately for the scent of pine and cinnamon…the sweet smell she had come to relate with Hidan, but all her nose could pick up was the acidic smell of antiseptics and the sterile smell of overloaded floor cleaners. Groggily, she opened her eyes and as she waited for colors and lines to become less fuzzy she felt the uncomfortable mattress beneath her. By the time she was actually able to comprehend her surroundings, she knew she was in a hospital. With a jolt Tenten realized there was someone leaning on her arm. Looking over, she saw Neji asleep and using her arm as a pillow causing the blood flow to halt to her fingers and giving her digits a sort of pins and needles feeling.

Sighing, Tenten lifted her other hand and gave Neji a gentle shake. Having heightened senses, he caught her hand before it even was able to touch him. He slowly lifted his head and gazed at the brunette before him.

"I'm glad you finally woke up," he said in a monotonous drawl. Tenten graced him with her smile and slipped her arm out from under his chin.

"Yeah me too. What happened, though? I could've sworn that Hidan was there," she asked, curiosity glimmering in her chocolate brown eyes. Neji's eyebrow picked up at the question before he sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"Well, yes, he was there and he knocked you out and stole your favorite staff. Unfortunately, your injuries weren't the worst out of everyone at the party," he said giving a solemn glance into her eyes. Tenten's eyes narrowed out of worry before they widened in remembrance.

"Naruto! He fell through the window because of Deidara-san!" She exclaimed, attempting to sit higher in her bed until a shot of pain flew through her head and down her neck. Groaning, she slid, defeated, down into a lying position.

"Yes, the fall broke most of his ribs and one of them pierced his lungs. Also, his arms and legs were broken…not to mention the concussion. The medic's said that if it wasn't for his unnatural healing ability…he probably would have died," he said with his face plastered in a grimace. Tenten's face contorted in horror.

"This is horrible! I have to go see him right now and apologize!" She practically screamed while attempting to sit up, this time succeeding. She flipped her legs over the side of the bed ignoring the extreme pain that was coursing through her head.

Neji placed a gentle yet firm hand on her shoulder, halting her movement. "No, Tenten…you still aren't in any condition to be moving around. You also suffered from a minor concussion but that's not what is keeping you here," he said now glaring at the brunette kunoichi. Tenten turned towards him with curiousity brimming in her eyes.

"What do you mean, Neji?" She asked in confusion. Neji sighed a glanced over at the IV connected to her arm.

"Why didn't you tell me you were taking sleeping pills?" He asked, ignoring her question and asking one of his own. Tenten stared at him for a moment before biting her lip and looking down at the white sheets of her bed in shame.

"I had to take them. If I didn't take them then I would have nightmares every night. But, how did you figure out that I took them?" She questioned not really understanding the situation.

"You almost died! If Tsunade-sama hadn't found the bottle of pills in your apartment, you would've died! The ingredient in your pills that relax your muscles was mixing with something in the medicine they were giving you through the IV and you started to have a horrible reaction to it…now we know that you were suffering from atropine poisoning," he said, taking a hand and rubbing the bridge of his nose. Tenten looked at him, shocked, before looking back at the bed.

"I'm sorry Neji," she said solemnly. Suddenly his hand was on her chin, lifting her head so she could see him.

"Look, it's fine…I guess it just scared me," he said, sounding embarrassed that he was actually telling her his feelings. Tenten smiled haphazardly before sliding back under the sheets and lying down.

"So how long do I have to stay here until I'm allowed to leave?" She asked, attempting to change the subject.

"I'm not sure they haven't said anything to me…but I'll be right back, I need to tell a medic that you're awake," he said before standing and moving over to the door. Tenten nodded and said a quick goodbye and waited until she heard his footsteps move all the way down the hall.

"Sorry Neji," she said before pulling the IV out of her arm and standing out of her bed. Quickly, she slipped around the bed and took off down the halls avoiding everybody and making sure she wasn't seen, after all she wasn't a Jounin for nothing. As she passed by doorways, she checked the name on clipboards that were sitting before each of the doors. Soon, she found herself in the intensive care unit. Unfortunately, sweat was beginning to pour from her brow and her breathing was becoming more and more labored.

_'I better make this quick…apparently all the atropine isn't out of my system. That IV must've been some sort of antidote for it,'_ she thought to herself as she began to extend her chakra senses until she picked up on a very familiar, large chakra source. With labored steps, she began to make her way towards the source. Soon she found herself before a door and she could feel the large chakra source behind it. With a small shove, she pushed the door open.

Before her laid Naruto, looking completely wrecked with casts, bandages, and machines hanging all around him. Tenten closed the door slowly and moved quietly over to the bed. She took his hand in hers and noticed how cold his hand felt compared to hers, probably because of her intense temperature at the moment.

"Naruto, I'm so sorry…this never would've happened if it hadn't been for me. Please forgive me," she said in a shaky whisper, her voice practically dying in her throat.

_'My strength is leaving my body at an extremely fast pace, I'm probably going to pass out soon,'_ she thought while wiping a bead of sweat from her face.

"T-Tenten? Is that you?" Naruto asked in a low, raspy whisper sounding like he was in extreme pain. Tenten perked when she heard his voice and gave a small smile.

"Shh, yes Naruto it's me but don't speak, just save your energy," she whispered to him while grasping his hand a little tighter. Naruto opened his bright blue eyes and glanced over at Tenten.

"Don't c-coddle me Tenten…I-I can handle talking to m-my friends," he said with a small smirk. At the statement, tears began to brim in Tenten's eyes. Why couldn't she be that emotionally strong?

"I wish I was that strong. I can't even go to sleep without pills to help me out," she rasped out. Her tears were now flowing freely down her cheeks.

"H-Hey don't cut yourself d-down Tenten. You're one of the strongest k-kunoichis I know. W-why is your hand so clammy and hot?" He asked with a hint of concern lacing his words. Tenten opened her mouth to answer but found the words were unable to form in her mouth. Dizziness suddenly hit her and she swayed slightly in her seat.

"I-I think I need to go back to my room now, N-Naruto," she barely whispered. Slowly she stood from her seat and began to drag her body over to the door. Unfortunately for her, it seemed the door kept getting farther and farther away and just as she was about to lay her hand on the doorknob, she collapsed onto the ground. Just before her mind went completely blank, she saw a fuzzy version of Hidan's face in the recesses of her mind.

* * *

Tenten gasped and flew up from her bed, covered in cold sweat. A nightmare had controlled her mind once again. Sighing, she glanced over at the clock that the hospital had on the wall. It read 3:30 A.M. Then she tried to gather why she was in the hospital in the first place before she remembered the party, Neji, escaping from her room, and the atropine poison. She slumped further into her bed and closed her eyes even though she knew she wouldn't be able to fall asleep.

"You possess my mind you fucking bastard," she whispered to the air. She flipped onto her side and found a small glass of water sitting on her bedside table. Gratefully, she reached over and took a small sip of the room temperature water. Setting the small glass back onto the table she reached up and felt her forehead. Luckily, there was no more sweat and she had much more energy than when she had been in Naruto's room.

Her mind slowly began to wander to Sakura and Ino. _'I hope they're okay…I wonder if they remember me…I wonder if they remember anything…probably not,'_ she thought as she placed a hand behind her head. _'I have to see them…make sure they're okay…'_

Slowly she rose from her lying position but found that extremely difficult without using her hands, so she brought her right hand to rest on the table only for it to land on a slip of paper. Curiously, she took the small paper from the table and brought it before her so she was able to read it.

_Dear Tenten,_

_Don't you dare try something stupid like that again! If…if Naruto's machines hadn't started going off, the medics never would have found you and you would've died. Contrary to popular belief, I really don't want you to die, so please stop putting yourself in danger. I'll be there as soon as you wake up, I promise._

_Sincerely,_

_Hyuuga Neji_

Groaning, Tenten crumbled the note up and threw it across the room. _'Damn it, Neji! I'm still going to get out of here…I can't survive off of antidote for the rest of my life!'_ She thought before ripping the IV from her arm once more and getting out of her bed. She walked slowly through the dark room and found the door…locked. Sighing, she began to fumble with the door waiting for the nearest medic to come running and open it, thinking she was out of her bed.

Just as she suspected a medic came and unlocked the door, bursting it open. Tenten stood up against the wall, waiting for the medic-nin, a girl it appeared, to rush passed her. As soon as the girl was completely into the room, Tenten slipped passed her and closed the door loudly, most likely startling the girl and also most likely locking the poor girl in, which would cause all the other medics to come running to try and get her out, which, in turn, would give her plenty of time to get to where she wanted to be.

Tenten slipped around corners and allowed her feet to take her to the place she had been so many times before, Ino's room. Medics were rushing passed her not even noticing her form slipping through the shadows and soon she arrived in front of Yamanaka Ino's room. With a small smile, she walked into the familiar room, closing the door softly behind her.

"Hey Ino-chan…it's Tenten again, I hope I didn't wake you up," she said softly as she made her way over to the bed. When she was next to the small bed she found it oddly empty. In shock, she began to glance around the room trying to find her blonde friend. Everything was still there, the pictures, the flowers; everything that people had given to her! It didn't make any sense…that is until she saw the chair sitting close to the window with a head sticking over the top.

"Oh, Ino-chan, you're awake…I didn't notice, I thought for sure you'd be in bed," she said as she made her way over to the figure in the darkness. At least, the affects of the atropine weren't becoming more apparent in her system yet. She stood behind the chair and placed her hand on the figures shoulder.

"Ino…" she started, then she noticed the overwhelming scent of pine and cinnamon emanating off of the figure sitting in the small chair. With a gasp she fell back as the figure stood and grabbed her arm. Suddenly, the figure stabbed a vile of something into the vein on her arm and she opened her mouth to let out a scream before he slapped a hand against her mouth.

"Shut up, panda, and calm down, it's just the antidote for the poison," Hidan said through the darkness, "Jeez I should've figured you'd be so damn retarded as to take sleeping pills, seriously." He slicked his free hand through his silver hair while continuing to hold her mouth shut. Angrily, Tenten's hand shot up and slapped his hand away.

"What the hell, Hidan?" She exclaimed, enraged that he appeared once more before her. Hidan rolled his eyes and turned the chair around and sat down once more. Sarcastically, he patted his lap offering her a seat there if she wished. Tenten huffed and took a seat on the abandoned bed.

"Fine, if you think the bed is more comfortable then suit yourself. Anyways, I believe I'll answer your question now. Well, after you ran me through with that damn staff and I knocked you out, I realized I probably gave you a concussion and since I didn't have that money grungy, asshole Kakuzu with me, I had to leave you there so you could get healed. I didn't want to have to carry your dead weight. Oh, and about your blonde friend, she's with Deidara right now…waiting for us," he said while cleaning the blades of his scythe. No matter how many times Tenten saw that scythe she would always be mesmerized by the amazing design.

Tenten stared at Hidan, her jaw agape. "Wait…so you're kidnapping us again?" She asked in confusion.

"Well no…cause I was kind of hoping you would come willingly," he said, running a nervous hand through his hair. Tenten's eyes grew wide at the statement and knew she had to be in some sort of dream.

"W-Wait…why in hell's name would I go anywhere willingly with you?" She asked with her eyes narrowed in suspicion. Hidan glanced at her and also narrowed his eyes but with anger.

"Well when I last kissed you, you didn't seem to have any objections, damn it!" He asked, his teeth clenching in anger while his eyes, looking red in the darkness, shined with frustration.

Tenten stared at him also clenching her teeth in anger. "How dare you bring my emotions into this," she said, glaring at him.

"Aha! So you do fucking admit that you have feelings for me," he said as he stood from his seat and walked over to her. She growled low in her throat as he approached.

"Get away from me…you willingly psychologically tortured me! Now leave me alone," she said as she also stood and attempted to slip around him, but he grabbed her arm and prevented her from leaving.

"Look, panda, all the moments we had together were real and I feel like a fucking pansy telling you this but I didn't learn until later on what the real deal was with kidnapping you. So technically it was sort of like forced psychological torture," he said as he brought her around to face him. Tenten continued to glare at the man of her nightmares and brought her free hand up to run through her long brown hair. Hidan watched her do this and smirked.

"That reminds me…looks like I can't call you panda anymore because you don't wear your hair in those ridiculous little buns anymore," he said. Tenten returned the smirk and let her hand fall back down at her side.

"No, you still can…I still wear my hair like that, it's just the last two times we were together I haven't had the need," she said. Suddenly, her face began to flush red-hot when she noticed the closeness of their two bodies. Again, she found herself damning the fact that she _had_ to be female and he just _had_ to be attractive. Hidan's smirk grew when he saw her reddened cheeks.

"Now there's the innocent, little panda coming out that we all know," he said as he grabbed her chin and titled her face towards his. The moment instantly reminded her of the moment her and Neji had shared in her hospital room before she had wandered off to see Naruto, yet that moment seemed far less significant than the one playing out right before her eyes.

"Yeah and there's the bastard, sarcastic Hidan that I know and love," she said as she took a small step forward so that their bodies were pressed closer together. Hidan rolled his eyes and bent his head down so their lips were inches apart and their breath was mingling and sending chills down Tenten's spine.

"I'm glad you never forgot," he said before closing the distance between their lips and kissing her. Electricity immediately shot through Tenten's veins as she kissed the S-class criminal, holding onto memories of the day they shared together on the dock in the woods…even if everything she did was against what she originally believed in.

"Tenten?" She heard a masculine voice ask from the doorway. With a jolt, she broke off the kiss and turned to stare directly at Neji as he stared curiously at the forms of the two inside the room. The fluorescent light from the hallway was lighting up Neji's figure eerily causing him to look like a stereotypical murderer in a horror film.

"N-Neji?" She whispered, hoping she was wrong. She saw his hand reach over the flick on the light switch. Momentarily she was blinded as the fluorescent light buzzed to life above their heads. As soon as her pupils had shrunk fully to adjust to the light, she stared into the clear pools of Hyuuga Neji's eyes.

"Tenten…what are you doing here and why…were you kissing him?" He asked gesturing towards her partner in crime, Hidan. Suddenly she felt very much like Hester Prynne in the Scarlet Letter, getting caught in the act of a horrible crime.

"Neji, why didn't you tell me Ino was taken the night of the ball?" She asked, turning the interrogation around on him. The whole time Hidan was simply watching the exchange occur with some mild interest. Neji narrowed his eyes at her.

"Don't change the subject, Tenten. I want to know why I find you here in the arms of some deranged criminal that you tell me you hate all the time," he said in his monotonous drawl that let you know he was serious.

"Hey, deranged is a damn strong word, kid," Hidan said sarcastically with a typical shit-eating smirk plastered onto his face.

"Never mind Tenten. I'm going to go get some help and if there's any trace of the old Tenten in your body, you'll keep him here," he said as he turned around and stalked off to find assistance. Slowly, she turned towards Hidan and found him already in front of the window.

"So, panda, its decision time. Is there any trace your old self in there, or are you going to ditch the stiff and follow what you really want," he asked as he opened the window. Tenten glanced at him for a moment before turning back towards the doorway where Neji had left. Narrowing her eyes at all the memories bursting through her mind, she gave one last sigh and turned to Hidan.

"I just have one last thing to ask," she said as she faced the silver-haired religionist. Hidan quirked an eyebrow but motioned for her to continue.

"Did you really burn all that stuff…or is any of it still useable?" She asked with a smirk playing on her lips. Hidan rolled his eyes but also smirked and offered her his hand. Giving one last glance towards the doorway she took his hand and jumped down from the second floor window to the cement that surrounded the hospital.

_The sun is rising  
The screams have gone  
Too many have fallen  
Few still stand tall  
Is this the ending of what we've begun?  
Will we remember what we've done wrong? _

_From The Howling by Within Temptation_

* * *

**A/N: Well, I hope everyone liked that chapter…probably not…I'm not sure I like it. Well, that was everyone's Christmas present from me, so Happy Holidays everyone!**

_Note: If anyone wants to add me on yahoo, gaiaonline, or myspace, my information is on my profile._


	3. Hazy Dreams

**A/N: Well, this chapter was definitely late in coming out and that definitely is all my fault. You see, my inspiration has hit an ultimate low so it's really hard for me to pump out chapters that just don't seem to come to me. I am sincerely sorry for your wait, but rejoice in the fact that it's over. In this chapter we all get an answer to the question we all asked: what happened to Sakura!**

**This chapter is dedicated to no one particular just everyone that reviewed and told me to get my ass into gear! See the real dedications in the next chapter.**

**Inspiration Music: Pain by Three Days Grace, Can't Be Saved by Senses Fail, Apologize by One Republic, Gunslinger by Avenged Sevenfold, Almost Easy by Avenged Sevenfold, and Hushabye by Korn.**

**Disclaimer: I obviously would not have a disclaimer is I owned any of this besides the plot.**

* * *

_Chapter 3: Hazy Dreams_

_Shame pulses through my heart from the things I've done to you  
__It's hard to face, but the fact remains that this is nothing new  
__I left you bound and tied with suicidal memories  
__Selfish beneath the skin but deep inside I'm not insane_

_From Almost Easy by Avenged Sevenfold_

It was like walking through a hazy, horrible dream. The only thing of which I was positive was that I was adrift on an ocean of memories, my memories. Yet, no matter how hard I tried to run my hands through the beautiful, silky mass beneath my body, my fingers would turn away as though repulsed by my indignation. This alone served to horrify me because I knew that my memories didn't surface and that meant I could hardly even comprehend who I was.

Feeling completely alone, I looked to the sky that I hoped to see above me but what I saw only served to perplex me further. The sky was obviously meant to be shaped as night, but the glowing orb that was supposed to be the moon was red and had three small, delicate black lines running along the outside almost as if to form a circle, yet it never completed. Oddly, this moon horrified me further and I was struck by an odd sense of longing. I somehow knew these two emotions hardly even belonged in the same sentence and yet the two combined set me in a rift between normalcy and lunacy, which oddly felt right.

Having been emblazoned with a new sense of courage, I took the liberty to once again stare in the silky sea beneath me. Gathering all of my will power, I shot my hand into the depths. Immediately a cold chill that wasn't completely uncomfortable but still sent mild shivers down my spine surrounded my fingers. Still not feeling satisfied, I lifted my fingers out of the chill and began to bring them to my face. The substance that seemed like water clung to my fingers in sticky drips and I curiously stared deeply into one.

Inside the transparent little string of liquid, I saw a boy behind who I guess was myself. The boy looked as though he would be traveling because he had a small backpack sitting on his shoulders. Frowning slightly, I watched as his lips moved in words that I could not hear; yet I knew exactly what he was saying.

"Thank you…"

I heard myself whisper the words almost in simultaneous action with the boy. Then, I shuddered as the drop fell from my fingertip and the moment was lost once again in the vast silence. Feeling incomplete, I reached my fingers once again inside the liquid, hoping to pull out that memory once more and see what happened next. Curiously, I once more slipped my hand out and stared into the drop.

Instead of seeing a boy this time I found myself staring at a man, which oddly resembled the boy closely. The two of us appeared to be alone in a room, which was completely covered in black household things. Suddenly, he moved forward and caught my lips with his own, kissing me with all the passion he most likely had. I knew in my mind that this moment meant something to me so I continued to watch. Just as suddenly as he had kissed me, hit lips left mine and I saw myself begin to talk. Then I saw his deep ebony eyes bleed into crimson red and all thought processes were abandoned.

"Sakura…thank you."

I heard the words ring out through the emptiness surrounding me, but this time it was not me who spoke. My eyes darted quickly to the source of the voice and found the man from my memory standing atop my sea, simply watching me with his hand outstretched. Not knowing really how to react, I stood and began to wordlessly walk toward him.

Once I drew near enough, I noticed that his eyes were the same blood red color they were in my memory. Shocked into stillness, I stood simply gaping at him until my voice was finally heard in the deep, tense silence surrounding us.

"Itachi," I said and he gave me a little smirk of recognition. Feeling once again emblazoned with courage, I ran to his figure. I wasn't even sure what I was doing and perhaps he didn't either because as soon as I was in arms length of him, he grasped my bicep tightly though still not commanding. Taking this as a sign, I stopped and stared deeply into his crimson eyes waiting for him to disappear into the bleak nothingness.

Slowly his other hand raised and rested itself gently on my shoulder. Blinking, I looked to the side at his hand and watched as it slowly traveled to the necklace delicately hanging from my neck. He tenderly picked up the red orb pendant that so closely resembled his eyes and then with a swift motion, tore the piece of jewelry from me as though it were offending him.

Suddenly as though a great burden had been lifted from my shoulders, this bleak world of nothingness began to melt away from my vision. I began to blink rapidly as the images in my mind flashed in front of my eyes reminding me of who I was. Vaguely I was aware of Itachi also melting away with my dreamscape and the corners of my mind tingled as his silky voice resonated through.

"Remember," he whispered to me as my eyes opened in the real world and I sputtered into consciousness.

* * *

Inuzuka Kiba never had a very large span of patience, so it was with grudging agreement that he had complied to just sit and watch as Haruno Sakura slept. It wasn't really his job to just sit and watch her sleep, but that was all she was really doing. Also, it didn't help his patience that even when she was awake all she would do is scream and yell at him to leave because she didn't remember him. So, it was with a heavy groan that he sat back in his chair when Sakura finally began to wake up. 

This time, though, as she opened her jade green eyes, he saw something different behind them, something familiar. Behind her eyes, replacing that blank emptiness he had to associate with the rosette kunoichi was…_her. _She was really there, not just some shell of a person that remembered nothing of anything. The dog user sat forward in his chair and simply stared, waiting for her to speak.

Groaning, Sakura rubbed her sleep-filled eyes, but immediately stopped when she felt someone else was in the room. Blinking once, she groggily turned her eyes to the figure sitting beside her bed. When she finally registered who it was, she quirked an eyebrow and stared intently into his eyes.

"Kiba?" She said his name like a question and continued to glance curiously at him. Finally, he slowly nodded before standing from his seat and simply walking away. Confused, she ignored it and began to allow her body to wake-up more. The first thing she noticed was that she was in a hospital, so that would explain why Kiba was in her room but it still perplexed her as to why he just walked away like that.

Sighing, she ran a shaky hand through her hair and found that it was significantly longer than what she remembered. Instead of ending right at the nape of her neck, her pink locks fell to just past her shoulder blades. So, apparently she had been in the hospital longer than she had first estimated.

Suddenly, Sakura was thrown from her thought processes as the door to her room flew open. Glancing curiously at the person standing there, she sighed in relief when she noticed who it was.

"Oh thank Kami it's you Tsunade-shishou, I'm so confused. Why am I in the hospital?" She asked cautiously as the boisterous woman took three long strides to her bedside. Sakura looked up at her expectantly, but only found a hardened, questioning gaze piercing into her eyes.

"What is your name? Who are your closest friends? And what are the names of those three standing behind me? Answer the questions in the order I asked them, please," Tsunade said with her hands crossed firmly behind her back. Sakura blinked a couple of times, recognizing the questions as those used on shinobi suffering from amnesia. She shook her head slightly, but ultimately decided that she should comply with her mentor's antics.

"I am Haruno Sakura. My closest friends are Uzumaki Naruto, Hatake Kakashi, Yamanaka Ino, Tenten, and unfortunately Uchiha Sasuke. And those three are Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba," she said professionally and with no confusion, making sure Tsunade heard every single line. For a long, tense moment Tsunade continued to stare at her protégée with no traces of emotion lining her features, but the tense atmosphere was quickly broken as the older woman all but yelled in joy and wrapped her arms around the confused kunoichi.

Sakura smiled nervously, but pat her mentor on the back. Curiously, she looked passed the joyous woman and saw Team Kurenai also smiling pleasantly…except Shino, but he still seemed a little happy. Quickly, Tsunade pulled herself together and sat down on the chair Kiba had earlier abandoned. Sakura finally gained the courage to ask what was plaguing her mind.

"Why am I in the hospital and why is everyone treating me so differently?" She asked with a pointed look at the blonde, boisterous woman sitting beside her. The question about her hair would most likely get answered through this explanation anyways.

"Sakura, I need you to tell me what the last thing you remember is, so that I can figure out where to begin," Tsunade said as she folded her hands gently in her lap and motioned with a flick of her head that Team Kurenai wait outside the door.

Sakura put a pale finger up to her lips, she didn't really like how that question had been worded. She had made it sound like there was a lot of explaining to be done, and, for obvious reasons, that worried her.

"Well, I remember returning from a simple mission with Ino and Tenten." At the mention of their names, she saw Tsunade visibly flinch, but she decided to ignore that for now.

"Then, I remember feeling this presence…something dangerous. So, the three of us hid in the trees, but our assailant knew what we were planning and somehow made the trunks of the trees we were standing on explode. Then, I remember seeing red clouds…and then nothing. Did he knock me unconscious and leave me to die or something?" She asked as she sat back in her uncomfortable bed. Tsunade shook her head slowly and drew a long, measured breath as though she were about to launch into a long discussion.

* * *

Tenten and Hidan weaved through the massive crowd of some unnamed village north of Konoha. The heat of Fire Country seemed to dissipate the farther north they went, and so far they had been traveling for three days following a broken trail and then covering up any sign of them being there. All they knew was that Deidara and Ino were somewhere in this marketing village and they had to find them before they moved on. 

Before the pair had even left Konoha, they had slipped silently into Tenten's home so she could gather everything she would need and, of course, change out of her hospital garments and into her kunoichi gear. Hidan had complained almost the entire time that were there, but she ignored him and set about her task. When she had finally come back out claiming she was ready to go, the first thing the religious man had noticed was her change in apparel.

"What happened to the loose maroon shit you used to wear?" He asked as he glanced at her completely black ensemble.

"Well, I figured I would blend in better. Plus, black is a very slimming color," she replied with a smirk. Hidan rolled his eyes and took off over the rooftops, expecting her to follow as always.

"Hey, holy man! You looking for someone, un." The duo heard the familiar voice and glanced up to see Deidara waving his arm over the crowd so they would definitely see him. Hidan growled at the nickname, but grabbed her hand and began to drag her through the crowd towards the blonde artist.

"Well, hey Tenten, glad you decided to join us, un," he said with his trademark smirk plastered on his face.

"Glad I could be here, Deidara-san. Hey, where's Ino?" She asked, finally noticing the absence of the other blonde.

"She's in our room waiting for us, un," he said, gesturing to the small inn to the right of where they were standing. With a small smirk, he reached into one of the pockets of his pants and handed Hidan a key.

"I figured Tenten would come along so I got you guys your own room, un," Deidara said before turning and leading the way back to the inn.

When they entered the shabby little place, the first thing Tenten noticed was the reeking scent of alcohol floating to her nose from the left. She turned her head slightly to the side and noticed that the inn was also a tavern. The small, repulsive bar was littered with what appeared to be townspeople. Most of them appeared to hold no self-respect because they were guzzling down massive amounts of the foul liquor. A particularly grizzly man turned his head when he felt eyes on him and saw the brunette kunoichi staring at him. He smirked lecherously at her form-fitting outfit, but his glee was soon cut short when the man next to her glared venomously at him and dragged the luscious girl down the hall with him.

"Fucking heathens," Hidan said as he opened the door to their room and slipped in beside Tenten. The kunoichi nodded her agreement and took a seat on the bed while removing her black sandals. The room itself wasn't completely horrible, but there were still some signs of bad maintenance. One being all the odd stains that covered the beige carpet.

"So, panda, you never did tell me what the hell was up with all that fucking jewelry," her religious companion stated before taking a seat in the wooden chair across from the bed. Tenten glanced up at him curiously before shrugging and returning her attention to the bruise on her leg.

"If I answer your question will you answer one of mine?" She asked while rubbing the blue skin where her bruise was. Hidan quirked an imaginary eyebrow and leaned back in his seat.

"I guess," he said lazily while he took his scythe from his back and gently leaned it against the wall. Tenten finally glanced up at her companion and took the thick, black choker necklace from around her neck.

"Well, the necklace actually conceals shinobi wire and a couple of senbon," she said as she pulled the said tools from a hidden slip of material insider the choker, "It definitely comes in handy when I'm out on missions and thought to be unarmed."

"I could imagine. Damn, that's actually pretty clever, but what about those dangly, shuriken earrings. You haven't taken them off since I saw you at the ball," he said, staring intently at the miniature shuriken that dangled from a small chain that pierced her ear. Tenten rolled her eyes at his interruption, but continued with her explanation.

"These were a gift from Neji when I turned eighteen last year. When you take the shuriken off the chain, it turns to a normal size," she said, removing one of the said stars to show him, "Then, with a little added chakra, it turns into a Fuuma Shuriken."

The said weapon proceeded to do just that. It expanded to full size instantly when her blue chakra flowed into it; this served to amaze Hidan as he stared at the once miniature, useless trinket.

"Woah, now that's pretty damn useful. I guess you've grown a little, panda," he said as the weapon changed back to the original size. Said kunoichi simply smiled and replaced the jewelry to her earring.

"Yeah, my entire body is covered in weapons. I'm like a walking arsenal, but it's not complete without the staff that you stole from me," Tenten said with a pointed glare at her companion. Hidan gave her a confused stare before his features lit up in realization.

"Oh, you mean that piece of cheap wood that you tried to run me through with? Yeah, you can have it back. I was going to keep it but only if you didn't come along," he said before pulling the shrunken staff from his pocket and tossing it lazily to her. Tenten snatched it from the air with the same air of laziness that he had shown her. Then, with a roll of her eyes, she slipped the staff into one of the many pockets that her cargo pants held.

"So, now that you're finished with scrutinizing me, I do believe it's my turn to ask the questions. I want to know why you came back for me," she asked, her demeanor quickly becoming serious as the words slipped from her lips. Hidan simply smirked and leaned forward in his chair, resting his elbows casually on his thighs.

"Well, actually it wasn't my idea. It was that bastard of a leader that wanted me to go get you and since my idiot of a partner somehow managed to get himself killed, he sent that damned ice cube and his number one antagonist with me. Itachi stopped sometime before we even entered Konoha saying that we didn't need him for the rest of the mission, haven't seen the prick since. Well, when we got to Leaf, Deidara decided he couldn't leave without his princess and now here we are," he said as he ran a hand through his silver locks. The action once again drew Tenten's attention to how his hair seemed to glow eerily in the dim light of their hotel room.

"Okay…then why did you tell me that you wanted me to go willingly?" She asked, her curiosity quickly melting away for anger, "You told me you wanted me to come with you."

"Hey, slow down I was getting to that. All right, well after you escaped the first time Leader tortured me like crazy. If I wasn't immortal I have no doubts that I would have died more than ten times over. Anyways, recently Kakuzu was killed by a bunch of Konoha freaks that you probably know, but I don't care because he was a fucking heathen anyway. So, he was killed and Leader called me to meet with him and told me about this little rendezvous thing with you. He told me that you were to either come back to the base with us willingly or we were to make you wear this little thing," he explained, taking a small silver bracelet from his pocket, "I'm not exactly sure what it does, but the way Leader's face lit up with glee I'm going to guess it's not pleasant."

Tenten began to chew on her lip softly, staring oddly at the little bracelet. Finally, she blinked and looked up into the violet orbs of Hidan a new softness behind her own chocolate eyes.

"You know, I probably wouldn't have gone with you if you had told me that little story. So, I guess I owe you a thank you because I definitely did not want to end up wearing that little piece of junk," she said with a grimace at what was undoubtedly almost her unknown killer.

"Well, changing the subject…I think I heard about Kakuzu's death. It was Hatake Kakashi, Uzumaki Naruto and Team Asuma, I think," Tenten said as she moved her wispy bangs behind her ear, "For a while I thought that you had died then too and ignoring my pride I cried a little at the thought."

"Oh come on, Panda, I got my ass out of there as soon as that little bastard went down. I had no reason to fight anymore…Hell, I was only there because of him and his stupid bounty hunts," Hidan said with a small, almost imperceptible, shake of his head. Tenten nodded her understanding and with a small smile she stood and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"So now what are we doing?" She asked as she took a seat on the arm of the chair he was sitting in.

"Well, we're traveling back to the base," he said matter-of-factly, succeeding in making Tenten feel like a dumbass.

"Well, I know that…but I thought the base was in the West not the North," she said trying to regain any amount of intelligence he thought she had. Hidan looked up at her and grimaced before rolling his eyes at her.

"Well it was, but then you found out where it was so we had to move it. Now we live in a freezing shit hole where you'd be lucky to find solace in a cardboard box," he said as he crossed his arms, obviously unpleased with the living arrangements. Tenten snickered in the back of her throat at the pouting religious man. Then, a thought occurred to her.

"Hey, if you're so big into this Jashin thing, why don't you go to some sort of church?" She asked as she absently scratched an itch that had formed on the tip of her nose. Hidan then became very animated at the mention of his religion and he looked up at her with wide eyes and a smirk plastered on his face.

"Well actually there is little shrines set up here and there for wandering Jashin worshippers. You see most of the people that worship the great Jashin travel a lot because we have to find sacrifices to offer to our lord, so there really isn't any group service for him or anything. The closest we get to Sunday mass is greeting whatever misshapen traveler just happens to walk in on you doing the rituals of praise," he said the smirk never once falling from his face as he spoke. Tenten nodded actually becoming interested in their topic of discussion.

"So how did you get into the whole thing anyway?" She asked curiously, seriously wanting to know more about her companion. Hidan gave her a strange look before shrugging and opening his mouth to launch into a little history.

"Well, when I was just a little kid my parents always wanted to take me to these bullshit services for like Kami or other random gods. We lived in a town that was basically out in the middle of nowhere, so the closest thing we got to ministers were those traveling freaks that thought they were hot shit. Needless to say, I grew exceedingly bored with their little ventures that is until the Jashin minister came to town. When he came to town, my mom absolutely forbade any of us to go see him, said he was Satan in disguise or some shit like that.

"Now me, being the curious little shit I was, immediately became confused when mom said no because I was so used to her dragging me to every single one of those damn things. So, curious as ever, I snuck out of the house and went to see the guy talk. Oddly enough, I was the only one that went. The guy gave me this shit eating grin and launched into the coolest explanation of god I had ever heard. Immediately interested in the concept, I decided to ditch my bastard parents and take up tutelage from the traveling minister. He was happy to have a companion and we were together for a long time.

"I learned a lot from that guy, and it wasn't until I turned eighteen that he betrayed me. One day, I just woke up and the dude was gone leaving me to figure the rest out by myself. Then, I went deeper than I had ever imagined into the realm of Jashin…and eventually was granted immortality for my actions. That was when I turned twenty-two, which is the age I've been ever since," Hidan explained, finishing with a loud sigh. Tenten quirked an eyebrow at him and ran a hand over her buns.

"Wow, your childhood seems much more fun than mine," she said remembering the sleepless nights of training and studying, all to impress Hyuuga Neji. Hidan simply chuckled at her remark and was about to lean back in his seat once more when a knock was heard.

"Hey, Hidan, Tenten, you guys can come over to our room so we can discuss some traveling plans and stuff, un," Deidara said on the other side of the wooden blockade. Hidan shouted some form of agreement before standing from his seat and holding a hand out to Tenten.

"Well it was fun reminiscing with you, Panda, but now we have to cash in our fun cards at the bank," he said sarcastically, causing the brunette to laugh and forget any thoughts she had of going home.

* * *

"Three years? Three years!" Sakura exclaimed as she walked slowly down the crowded streets of Konoha beside Hyuuga Hinata. The rosette kunoichi appeared to have steam blowing from her ears, her current state of mind focusing on her intense panic. 

"Don't worry Sakura-san, you didn't miss much while you were um…gone," Hinata said in her demure, shy voice, making it hard for Sakura to hear her.

"Oh yeah, I was only out for my best friend getting hospitalized, two of my other friends getting kidnapped, and most of my other friends becoming Jounin," she said as she threw her hands up into the air. Hinata flinched slightly under her harsh tone but managed to keep her tact and tried again.

"Sakura-san, think of it this way, you're here now and you can always try and make up for lost time," Hinata said with a soft, reassuring smile adorning her features. Sakura glanced down at her companion and found it hard to not get sucked in by the girl's optimism. So, she smiled lightly in return.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right, Hinata," she said, but kept the thoughts of her prolonged amnesia stored in the back of her mind for later, "So, where are we headed anyways? Tsunade-shishou only told me that I was supposed to be taking Kurenai's position while she was out of commission."

"Well, Kiba-kun and Shino-kun are waiting for us at the training field. We were told to evaluate your current level of abilities," she said as they finally broke through the crowd and entered the grassy plain that Team Kurenai called their training field.

"And just exactly how do you guys plan to do that?" Sakura asked as Shino came into view. Curiously the dog shinobi was nowhere in sight, then she heard it. It was a disturbance in the airflow to her right. With a quick flick of her arm, going on instinct alone, she caught the kunai that was aimed for her temple mere inches from its intended target.

"By making you jump around the field and fight Hinata," Kiba said from the tree he was standing in. Apparently, he had thrown the offending weapon probably to keep her aware of her surroundings. It was when a deep panic set in that his words registered in her mind.

"Wait, fight Hinata! I just got out of the hospital and I've been out of commission for three years and you expect me to fight a Jounin level kunoichi?" Sakura asked incredulously. The plan seemed almost impossible to her because she wasn't even sure if she could mold chakra anymore.

"Yeah! We were asked to evaluate your abilities and since you're going to be on our team for a while and you're the weakest member, we get to choose your practice," Kiba said as he leapt down and walked casually over to Shino, who was silently listening to the exchange with no apparent emotion present on the portions of his face that were visible. Sakura was almost positive that Kiba was going to grind endlessly on her nerves the entire time she was on this team.

"We apologize Sakura-san, but this appears to be the only logical way to examine your skills without outright making you show us what you can do," Shino said calmly in his deep baritone that rang clearly throughout the clearing. Sakura was almost sure that was the most words she had ever heard the bug user ever use. The rosette kunoichi decided to just accept her fate and listen to what the more experienced shinobi were saying. It was extremely odd to think that even though her body had aged as much as theirs, her mind was stuck in a fifteen year old mindset.

"Alright, let's just get this over with," she said with a heavy sigh. She slipped her leather gloves over her hands and swiped a piece of her long hair behind her ear. Hinata simply walked across the clearing and stood across from Sakura, clearly ready to fight.

Sakura took in a deep breath and closed her emerald eyes, hoping beyond hope that she would still be able to at least control her chakra enough to perform Taijutsu. Everyone in the clearing seemed to melt away as she focused her mind and rid it of any distractions finding in the very corners of her mind her kunoichi abilities. Suddenly, her eyes snapped open and a determined expression crossed her face.

"I'm ready," she said, completely ready to give it her all even though she knew she would lose. Hinata gave her a consenting nod and fell into her traditional Jyuuken style.

Her fight had begun.

_You say you'd love to  
But you've lost what's left to do  
Almost decided to stay 'cause of you  
And I'm here today to exchange your dreams  
For one more ticking of your time _

_From Hushabye by Korn_

* * *

**A/N: Well, there's the long awaited third chapter. This chapter was just sort of a transitional chapter between ideas since the next chapter is going to be filled with even more dialogue and a juicy kunoichi fight. All right, I hope you all remember the arc with Yugito, and Kakuzu and Hidan capturing her. Well, if you remember Asuma gets killed and we find out that Kurenai is pregnant with his child. That's why she's out of commission, to take care of her baby. Also, I warped the story arc so that it was three years later than it really was and where Hidan didn't die.**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please read and review, I need the inspiration!**

_Note: There is an upcoming competition that I am going to come up with, with the prize being that one of you will have the chance to have a cameo appearance in this story. Just keep checking my profile for updates on it and all the details. Also, you can PM me if you're interested._


	4. Join Me in Death

**A/N: Well, hello all, I'm back. You gave me great reviews once again, though not as many as the last chapter and it also seems I lost my lovely FreeFallJumper. Well, the good news is I updated and I got into National Honor Society! Don't act too excited…**

**This chapter is dedicated to MoriMori, for being the reviewer that inspired me to write this chapter, and to Kyle, for listening to me rant about Naruto even when it gets unbearable.**

**Inspiration Music: Join Me In Death by HIM, I Hate Everything About You by Three Days Grace, The Howling by Within Temptation, Angels Cry by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Brompton Cocktail by Avenged Sevenfold, and I Don't Wanna Be In Love by Good Charlotte.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; therefore, my existence is meaningless.**

* * *

_Chapter 4: Join Me In Death_

_Angels cry  
When stars collide  
I can't eat  
And I can't breathe  
I wouldn't want it any other way._

_From Angels Cry by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus_

A strand of silky pink hair traveled smoothly through the air as a gust of wind slowly caused it to stray further and further from its owner's head. The owner of said hair stood silently on a raised platform, displaying her to all of the people that watched her every movement. The girl, or maybe woman, blinked at the attention not really caring a single bit as her former precious people, namely a blonde man, turned their eyes away from the sight, almost ashamed. Her arms were wrenched, rather painfully she noted, behind her back and bound with chakra restraints. Other than the awkward position of her arms, she looked as though she had not one care in the world, and as Morino Ibiki walked calmly onto the platform holding a scroll, she nearly laughed.

With a loud sound coming from the interrogator's throat, the crowd before the platform silenced. Slowly, he walked to her side and the woman merely glanced over at him to show that she knew he was there. With a nod, Ibiki unrolled the scroll and began to read in a monotonous drawl.

"Haruno Sakura, you have been charged with high treason towards the Hidden Village in the Leaves with multiple cases of killing other Konoha shinobi and endangering the lives of the civilians by revealing information to outside, threatening sources. The punishment for these acts is death, but in an appeal by the Hokage, Tsunade-sama, if you plead not guilty she is willing to give you a proper trial and guarantee your life. Given these facts, Haruno, how do you plead?" He asked, contempt clearly written on his features. Obviously the man didn't want her to live and according to the angry whispers that were slowly branching out through the crowd before her, neither did the village's inhabitants.

For a long, suffering moment, Sakura paused and took the question into account. So, Tsunade was rushing to her aid. Why? Simply because she was her former student and held emotional attachment to her? The thought made the roseate kunoichi nearly scoff.

"That scum does not deserve a choice! She deserves to rot in hell for what she's done!" She heard one particularly angry villager begin. Frankly, Sakura wholly agreed with the woman. Nothing in her mind could deny the fact that she deserved to die for everything she'd done.

Slowly, she took her attention off of the villagers and began to allow her eyes to roam around the place she once called home. Ironically, the platform she stood on was rooted firmly in a training field that she strictly remembered fighting Hyuuga Hinata in, but other than that nothing about the scene constituted a reaction in the jade-eyed girl.

Then, her attention drifted to the lazily swinging rope as it moved through arcs of oscillation, like a pendulum. A plank of wood that curved and connected to the platform that she was currently standing on suspended it. The rope itself was not what captivated Sakura's attention; rather, it was the small oval loop at the end of it signifying it as a noose. A small smirk found its way to her features as she mulled over the reasons as to why she would be given such a primitive execution, but her mind immediately knew the answer as she glanced over at her tall executioner.

Haruno Sakura was probably the most skilled medic the world had ever known she could easily prevent any other death. But with the simple, quick snapping of her neck it was nearly impossible to stop and it would all be over in a matter of seconds. Slowly, she realized she really didn't deserve this kind of death. It would be quick and near painless. Not what she would have expected being a kunoichi. Sakura suddenly found her body rejoicing in the thought of such a death. She could have easily been taken out by a stab wound to her stomach and had to wait the agonizing twenty minutes that it took for her stomach acid to eat her away to death.

No, she was being granted this easy way out and like hell she wasn't going to take it.

The crowd was still growing angry about the Hokage's appeal, and when the kunoichi that had captivated all of their conversations finally opened her mouth, they prepared to launch an array of colorful language towards her.

"Guilty." That simple word might as well have brought the world to their knees as the crowd before her fell silent save for one small voice in the front of the crowd.

"Sakura-chan…" Uzumaki Naruto's voice had probably never sounded so deeply betrayed as he stared at his one remaining teammate and best friend. Sakura spared the shinobi a glance, filled with what he hoped was sadness, before turning her attention back to Ibiki, who had finally began to speak.

"Alright. As your final birth given right, do you have any last words?" he said as he grabbed the rope from the air and slipped it around her neck. Tightening it with a grunt, he moved away from her and stood by a lever ready to pull it whenever she gave her departing words.

Fleetingly, Sakura wondered if anyone was going to rescue her, but quickly abandoned the thought as soon as it had come. She had been caught and this was the punishment for getting caught. Certainly _he _wouldn't come for her after being too weak to stop herself from falling into the enemy's hands.

Sakura smirked softly as she watched a small raven, it's obsidian wings glistening in the sunlight that shone through the treetops into the clearing. Silently, the bird landed on the plank where the rope was tied. Giving one last smirk at the bird, she glanced down at Naruto with a look that spoke volumes.

"I never wanted to fall in love." Then, there was a sickening snap, and everything was deathly silent.

With a jolt, Sakura awoke gasping for precious oxygen and her body glistening in a light sheen of sweat. Her dream hadn't really been a nightmare, but it was so realistic it startled her. Especially the forlorn sound of Naruto's voice as he begged her with his eyes to reconsider. She was almost sure she had witnessed her own death, but why would she betray her village.

Never. She never would, so she let the dream slip to the back of her mind as Hyuuga Neji opened up the flap of the tent she shared with Hinata. Neji quickly peaked his head into the small opening he had made and let in the murky light from the moon.

"Haruno, I heard you wake up and decided to let you take your shift now," he said in the monotonous drawl that had slipped into his voice ever since Tenten had left. Sakura rubbed the last bit of sleep from her eyes before crawling quietly over to the opening. Once she was outside the security of her shared tent, she stood and wiped some dirt from her boots and medic apron.

"All right Neji-san, I'll wake up Kiba when my shift ends," she said politely with a small smile at the Hyuuga prodigy. Neji simply nodded and moved over to the tent he shared with Kiba and Shino.

Sakura watched his retreating back for a moment before moving over to the slowly dying fire in the middle of their little campsite. With a small grunt, she fell onto a log that they had placed near the fire to sit on. Sighing, she ran her fingers through her long hair still not really used to the new length. This entire situation just seemed so weird, she hadn't felt this weak since she was a Genin. She wasn't about to lie and tell herself she measured up to the other ninja's she was working with…she knew she was the weakest member of their little squad. Picking up a stick, she poked the fire before her trying to replenish the life that it held when it was first made. Slowly, her mind wandered to just how she got into this mess.

* * *

_Team Kurenai and Sakura trudged up the steps leading to Tsunade's personal office. The roseate kunoichi could barely pick up her body enough to get up the stairs, let alone concentrate on keeping her balance. She felt like a complete and total mess after her fight Hinata. The Hyuuga heiress had obviously gotten much stronger since the last time she had seen her. Wincing at a particularly bad bruise on her thigh, she nearly rejoiced when the group made it to the top of the stairs and started making their way towards the office._

_Shino knocked politely on the door when they finally reached their destination and waited patiently until they heard Tsunade's voice beckon them inside. Kiba practically ripped open the door and immediately started to complain about Sakura. _

"_Man, Tsunade-sama, I can't believe you want to put _her _on our team! She could hardly hold her own against Hinata!" He yelled, his rough voice resonating throughout the small office. A pointed glare from the blonde woman quickly shut up any further protests Kiba was going to offer._

"_Inuzuka, I suggest you shut your big trap and sit down," she said before turning her attention to Shino, "Aburame, tell me what happened in the training session in full detail."_

_Shino nodded and began a long description of the fight that Sakura and Hinata had. Sakura was almost positive that that was the most words she had ever heard come out of the bug users mouth. His description made Sakura realize just how pathetic her fight really _had_ been. When Tsunade seemed satisfied enough, Shino ended his speech and faded once again into the background. _

"_Alright, according to Aburame's play by play account Sakura is still at a Chuunin level, which I'm actually quite glad about seeing as she was out of commission for three years. It also means she is capable of accompanying you on the mission I'm about to assign to you. Your mission is this, and I don't care how long it takes, you are to locate and retrieve Tenten and Yamanaka Ino. Any objections?" Tsunade stated while slipping her hands underneath her chin. Team Kurenai, and Sakura quickly realized that included her, simply shook their heads as determination washed over their features._

"_Good, your team leader is going to be Hyuuga Neji and you are going to meet with him at the village gates tomorrow morning so I suggest you all get a good amount of rest. Oh, and one more thing, I've been informed that it seems that Tenten has left of her own free will if that is the case I don't care how much she fights, you must apprehend her and bring her back, understood?" The Hokage asked as she glanced at all of their faces to make sure they were all focused on her. Sakura merely held her breath at the thought of having to fight on of her best friends._

_This was going to be one hell of a mission._

* * *

Tenten shivered beside herself as their group of miscreants made their way through the knee-high snow. Her teeth chattered mercilessly in her mouth as she turned to her slightly warmer companion, who was wrapped snuggly in a cloak.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me we were going to be traveling through this barren wasteland? I might have actually had the foresight to grab some, oh I don't know, warm clothes!" She practically screamed at the silver haired man beside her.

"Well I might have given you my cloak, but I think chivalry is dead," Hidan said with a smirk. Tenten sent him a chilling glare before setting her eyes back on the trail ahead of them. Ino, whom Tenten was thrilled to see remembered everything, and Deidara had left the inn a few days before Hidan and Tenten stating that they needed to prepare Leader-sama for Tenten and Ino's presence.

"So, do _you _even know the reason why the Leader is asking for my presence?" The brunette asked after a long moment of silence. Hidan regarded her for a moment with a raised eyebrow before shrugging and setting his gaze back to the barren wasteland that was spreading before the duo.

"No, he doesn't give out information unless it is absolutely _imperative_ that we know, and in my case nothing is imperative enough for me to know," he said with a hint of distaste apparent in his voice. Tenten nodded, knowing he probably didn't see her but not finding it necessary to reply. Another long, drawn out moment of silence stretched between the two and was again broken by the kunoichi.

"Um, do you know how much farther the base is?" She asked, glancing down at her feet to watch her feet disappear in the ankle deep snow. The icy, white substance alone was enough to cause another set of shivers to run down her spine.

"Actually, panda, we might as well be there," Hidan said with a smirk adorning his features. Tenten looked at him incredulously, not seeing a building or _any _sign of life in the distance. Suddenly, her partner reached down through the snow and she became aware that he was struggling with something.

"Damn it! It must have snowed again! This fucking thing is heavy!" He said, apparently cursing Mother Nature and the weather that she created, "Hey, panda, don't just stare at me like a dumb fish! Help me!"

The brunette kunoichi jumped slightly at the sudden anger directed at her, before she settled and nodded. With a grunt, she laced her hands around his waist and began to help him pull whatever it was he was pulling. Another set of large strained sounds, and the twosome fell back as a wooden door flung itself out of the snow almost hitting Hidan in the face. Of course because of their working positions, Tenten ended up beneath the much larger male life form.

"Can you get your big ass off of me?" She said in a small, strained tone as she attempted to push the immortal man off of her. Hidan turned his head to get a look at the writhing girl beneath him before giving her a shit-eating grin.

"Ah, but at the ball you seemed to want me on the ground with you," he said. Tenten could feel her eyebrow begin to twitch and she unconsciously tightened her fists.

"You are so full of it," she said as she shoved him off of her forcefully. Unfortunately for Hidan, the new opening they had made was in his line of flight and he fell unceremoniously into it. Tenten yelped as she heard him begin to curse, and with one final, rather loud bout of bad language he crashed into the floor at the bottom. Feeling guilty, she launched herself down into the hole and landed gracefully next to her fallen comrade.

"You know, we could have just taken the goddamn stairs," Hidan said as he sat up and gave her a glare that she distinctly remembered as the one she was always afraid of. Gulping, she rubbed the back of her head nervously.

"Um, I'm sorry," she said with a sheepish smile. Rolling his eyes, Hidan jammed his hand in front of him. Momentarily shocked, she simply stared at it before also rolling her eyes and taking the hand, helping him up.

"Alright, first things first lets go see that little bastard of a Leader," he said as he began to walk in front of her. Tenten stared at his back for long moment getting a horrible sense of déjà vu. Shaking it off, she began to trot to keep up with his much larger strides.

"You know Hidan, I'm almost glad I'm here," she said in a small whispery tone and then was thoroughly shocked when she felt a large hand wrap around her own.

* * *

"Haruno."

Sakura jolted at the sound of her name and nearly broke the stick she had been using to poke the flames back into life. Turning with a snap, the roseate kunoichi nearly stumbled at the sight of her team leader.

"Oh hey Neji-san, I thought you might be an intruder," she said with a small smile, scooting over on the log silently inviting him to sit with her. Neji nodded and took a seat next to her.

"Hopefully an intruder would not be able to sneak up on you as well as I just did," he said with only a slight amount of reprove in his voice. Sakura blushed with a small, sheepish smile on her face.

"Oh…uh, yeah, I was just thinking about something, sorry. So, what are you doing up Neji-san?" She asked, quickly diverting the topic away from her failure. The shinobi in question spared her only a small, quick glance before he turned his attention to the dying embers of the fire.

"Like you, I was thinking and I could not sleep, so I thought I might as well enjoy the firelight and the night sky while I was awake," he said while turning his pale eyes away from the fire and towards the large expanse of stars overhead.

"Oh, would you like me to leave you alone and scout the area?" She asked. Sakura couldn't help but stare at the way the fire made his eyes dance with color and soon found herself drifting into thoughts about another man that had dancing eyes.

"No, now that I'm here we can talk if you wish," he said, taking her abandoned stick and poking the flames with more expertise than she had. Soon, the formerly dying fire was billowing with life once more.

"Okay…I kind of wanted to know what you thought about this mission," she blurted out, trying to find someone else's opinion on the subject. Neji raised an eyebrow at her direction of conversation, but internally consented to the idea.

"Well, originally the entire idea was mine. I was the one that told Tenten to keep Hidan where he was while I went to get help. I know she was perfectly capable of handling herself against him; she has become strong over the years. So, when I came back and saw that they were both gone…my initial reaction was to be shocked by her treachery. Then, Tsunade-sama somehow convinced me that I might have overestimated her abilities and she could have been kidnapped. Somewhere in my mind, I refuse to believe this," he said, glaring silently at the dancing flames. Sakura immediately regretted her decision to ask him about this. Apparently, the man next to her had many personal demons regarding his female teammate.

"Neji, I don't think that Tenten or Ino would ever betray the village like that," she said in consolation not only for him, but also for herself. Neji glanced at her from the corner of his eye and simply nodded.

"You are probably right, Haruno, so far both of them have never showed any intention of defecting from the village," he said with a sigh. Sakura bit her lip, trying to believe her own words.

"But…if it does turn out that they betrayed the village, and we have to fight them I don't know if I am capable of defending myself," she said with a large amount of self-loathing in her statement. Why couldn't she ever be strong enough?

"Do not worry, Sakura-san. You will always be in my party since we have more experience in combat, while Hinata-sama and her team are more experienced at tracking," he said, his brain already formulating battle plans and strategizing team formats.

"Neji-san, I apologize for disagreeing with you, but I don't know if I'm the best person to fight…I was hardly able to land a blow on Hinata," Sakura said as she glanced down at her feet, suddenly finding the dirt extremely fascinating.

"Hn, I've been meaning to ask one of you about that fight. I believe it is crucial I know what happened so I can aide you in improving your battle style," Neji said completely unaware of the blush that was rising to Sakura's cheeks.

"Alright, if you thinks it's necessary," she said before taking a large breath and beginning her account of the fight.

* * *

_Sakura and Hinata were squared off on the practice field, neither one moving a muscle. It appeared that they were both weighing their options on how to fight their opponents, and also calculating the exact distance they were from one another. Suddenly an impatient noise erupted from the sidelines._

"_Just fight already!" Kiba shouted from his place on the tree branch and Akamaru barked in concurrence. It was then that it seemed the entire world began to move once again as Hinata quickly complied with her teammates wishes. _

_The Hyuuga heiress was quickly moving towards Sakura, and it took all of the rosette's willpower not to start panicking. Almost too fast, Hinata was upon the other kunoichi and was rearing back her palm for a quick Jyuuken strike. Pure instinct was all that saved Sakura from receiving a blow to the stomach, as she leaped away from her attacker. Unfortunately, Hinata anticipated this and followed with a quick blow towards her face. She quickly ducked underneath the strike and began to gather chakra to her fist. _

_Again, Sakura flipped away from her opponent and reared her fist back. Hinata, seeing this, quickly attempted to get out of range from the impending earthquake. With a small grunt of force, the rosette slammed her fist into the unsuspecting earth and released all of the stored chakra, causing it to crack and split from the impact. The Hyuuga stumbled, as slabs of ground were forced upright. The pale-eyed girl nearly broke her leg when one of the said slabs began to plummet back towards the earth. _

_When the dust from the attack finally settled, Sakura was nowhere in plain sight. Hinata simply activated her Byakugan, and quickly located her signature moving rapidly towards her under the ground. The mouse-like girl jumped back as Sakura hurtled from the ground, a kunai firmly in her hand. Suddenly, Hinata picked up something else in her almost all-around vision. _

_With a yell, the clone Sakura launched herself out of the tree she was in and nearly succeeded in tackling a very startled Hinata, if the other girl hadn't reacted out of instinct and gave the rosette a firm palm to the stomach causing the clone to disappear in a puff of smoke. Gritting her teeth in determination, Sakura rushed her opponent once more hoping to fight her in Taijutsu, which was currently the only thing she was positive she could do. _

_The girls quickly became locked in a flurry of punches, chakra, blocks, and dodges. Unfortunately for Sakura, she didn't have the stamina that she was used to so she was quickly becoming depleted of chakra and energy. Realizing that she would surely lose if she didn't get away from the Hyuuga, she back-flipped onto a tree branch and cast a very elementary Genjutsu on the area so that Hinata would think she was elsewhere, giving her body some time to regroup. _

_With a sigh, Sakura sat on the tree branch she was currently on. This fight was going absolutely nowhere…she needed to think of something and fast or else she was going to be in a world of pain. Groaning, she lifted herself back up and prepared her last plan for this battle. _

_Hinata glanced around the trees, sure that Sakura had come this way. After a few more paces, she realized she had already been this way. Narrowing her eyes slightly in suspicion, she released the Genjutsu that had been cast over the area. Like a fog clearing, Hinata could now easily sense Sakura. _

_A single shuriken flew from the leaves where Hinata sensed Sakura was. The Hyuuga easily caught the weapon and threw it back towards its original owner. Only instead of being caught, like Hinata had thought it would have been, it had embedded into the bark of the tree. With a jolt, Hyuuga Hinata realized that Sakura was about to tackle her to the ground from the tree behind her. Spinning around quickly, she slammed a palm into her opponents' stomach causing her to fly through the tree line and back into the clearing. _

_Immediately, Sakura was swarmed with an odd sense of déjà vu that was so powerful that as she heard Hinata come flying out of the trees she half expected to find the tip of a huge, skin-shaving sword pointed beneath her chin. Instead, she was greeted with a polite hand as Kiba laughed at her expense in the background. _

"_You fought well, Sakura-san," Hinata said as she helped the rosette kunoichi to her feet. Sakura nodded and gave the other girl a small smile, but internally she couldn't help but disagree._

* * *

"Hn…you did well considering you were in an almost comatose state for three years," Neji said, whether truly meaning it or being polite Sakura couldn't tell. The kunoichi simply shook her head in silent disagreement.

"No, I could have done better. My mind remembers how to move and what to do when I fight…it's just my body that's not used to the movements," she said in aggravation.

"Haruno, go get some more sleep, I'll handle your shift," he said, shaking his head because of her sudden mood swing. Sakura's eyes flew up to his face, before her body deflated in defeat. It really wouldn't be a good idea to argue with her team leader.

"Alright…just make sure you wake up Kiba," she said while standing and brushing some dirt off of her medic apron. Neji simply grunted in reply and turned his head back to the dancing flames. Sakura nodded and walked over to her shared tent. Being as silent as possible, she zipped the tent flap open and crawled in after the rays of moonlight that shined on Hinata's calm, pale face.

Sighing, she slipped into her sleeping bag and forced her eyes to close despite her impeding anxiety regarding her last dream. Letting a small tremor fly down her back, she began to circulate chakra through her body in a calming sensation and soon found herself drifting off into sleep.

* * *

_The crowd simultaneously drew in a great breath as Sakura stood calmly on the ground with the broken rope dangling uselessly from her neck. Sparing them a single sheepish smile, she leaped out of the hole in the platform. Slowly, her eyes drifted to Ibiki, who was purposefully moving towards her. Sighing, she turned and took off running, not about to let him catch her and try to kill her again. Suddenly, every ninja that was in the crowd took off sprinting after the young kunoichi whose only ally was the small raven trailing behind her._

_The bird swooped and landed on her shoulder and Sakura could tell that the bird wasn't really a bird at all. The rosette kunoichi shook her head and rolled her eyes._

_"I should have expected something like this, Ino," she said to the bird and she could have sworn the creature was laughing through the sounds it was making through it's beak. Suddenly, Ino's chakra signature flew from the raven and the real bird became confused of its surroundings and flapped away from Sakura._

_Jumping to the right, Sakura evaded a horde of sharp objects coming her way. She was so close to leaving the village she could taste it. Another set of kunai and shuriken came her way and caused her to duck away from them, almost losing her balance. The village wall was in her sight, and with a grunt of effort she leaped up onto the wall. Just as she was about to leap down onto the other side and to freedom, she became highly aware of a rather large chakra signature. Sighing, she turned her head and saw Naruto standing only about twenty feet away._

"_Naruto…" She began, but was cut off by his voice._

"_Sakura-chan, I already watched that bastard Sasuke walk away from me…I'm not letting you go too," Naruto said, his eyes practically glossing over in tears. Sakura gritted her teeth in silent aggravation with the boy before her._

"_Naruto, you have to realize that all that waits for me here…is death," she said, turning away from him. Sakura heard Naruto sigh and sit down on the top of the wall. She turned her head back to him._

"_Sakura-chan, I know that, but it's too hard to just let you go," he started, "But my loyalties lie in my precious people…and you're one of my very precious. So, I'm going to hold my tongue for you just this once."_

_For a moment, Sakura was stunned into silence. Maybe Naruto was more complex than people gave him credit for. With one final smile at her best friend, she slid down the wall and left her childhood home once more. Not wasting any time, she took off running into the thick forest hoping to find Ino and whoever else organized that little escapade. _

"_You were foolish to get caught," said a deep, silky voice from beside her. Jumping slightly, she turned her head to see Uchiha Itachi running beside her. _

"_I don't want to hear it! The only reason I was there was for you in the first place!" She said angrily towards the man beside her. She heard him grunt a type of laugh, which made her smile slightly. _

"_But…why did you come for me if I was so foolish?" Sakura asked, she was not expecting _him _to be in on this rescue adventure. For a long moment, there was silence and she was about ready to give up on a reply when his deep, rich baritone filled the air._

"_I did not want you to join me in death," he said simply. Sakura glanced at him, her eyes filled with confusion. _

"_But, Itachi, you're not—," she began, but was cut short when he turned his dead, empty eyes towards her. It was then that the full weight of his words set in on her._

"_Oh," the kunoichi said to the shinobi.  
__And we've waited for so long  
__For this moment to come  
__We're so anxious to be together  
__Together in death_

_From Join Me In Death by HIM_

* * *

**A/N: Okay, so I know this chapter kind of blew, but I was trying to get a feel for what is going to happen later in this story. Most of this chapter was flashbacks, foreshadowing, and some good Tenten/Hidan interaction. I don't feel this is my best work, but I am sincerely trying guys. My inspiration is seriously blowing the big one right now…**

**Thanks to all of you that reviewed! Ja!**

_Contest Time: All right time for all the details of the contest to come to fruition. Okay, this is going to be an art contest for all you artsy types! Just draw a piece of art for this story for a moment that has already happened or a moment that you want to see happen! You don't have to be DaVinci; I just want to see you try! The winner will get a cameo appearance in my story, whether as an ass-kicking ninja or maybe just some nice, random person…I haven't decided. Anyways, just send me a link to your art through my email because __private messaging it does not work. __Okay people send in your art!! _


	5. Inside the Fire

**A/N: Well, I'm back and I must say…you guys are really getting sick of all this serious mumbo jumbo**

**A/N: Well, I'm back and I must say…you guys are really getting sick of all this serious mumbo jumbo. My review intake is slowly depleting, which is making for a very sad authoress. But, I am in a better mood because I signed on a new reader who says that I write well! I think my inspiration is slowly coming back, but now it has a small, evil side to it…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, sadly.**

* * *

_Chapter 5: Inside the Fire_

Tenten slowly stalked behind Hidan, pondering if they were _ever _going to stop walking. The halls and walkways of this place were so tedious and winding that she was almost positive that if she were ever left alone here, she would get lost. Hidan wasn't helping her overcome boredom either. The religious zombie man kept telling her that _it was just a little farther, _which was getting hard to believe since he had begun that line about ten hallways ago. The brunette felt an overwhelming amount of relief when they finally stopped in front of a simple, wooden door that looked just like all the other doors.

She was then thoroughly shocked as the door moved aside _by itself. _Now this place was not only boring, but also a mad house.

Stepping to the side to allow the door to swing fully open, Tenten saw Hidan roll his eyes at this obvious proclamation of power. As the duo moved into the stone lined room, she became wholly aware of the fact that they were most definitely not alone. In fact, it seemed that the room was filled with people. Suddenly, a bright light was lit and it quickly illuminated the entire eerie, cold room. Now, it was obvious that the room was not filled with just people, but with the genetically altered freaks known only as the Akatsuki. Oh, and Ino was there too.

Sliding subconsciously towards her blonde friend, Tenten came to a stop about five feet from the girl. Hidan simply stomped over to her and stood begrudgingly beside her. In the center of the circle that had been unknowingly formed by the Akatsuki members stood the Leader-sama. In one frightening moment, the brunette became painfully aware of the fact that he was _really there._ He wasn't just some holographic figure anymore, but a full body. In one swish of movement, he was staring directly at _her._

"We've been awaiting your arrival, Tenten-san," he said, in that same commanding, relaxed voice she remembered all to well. Finding her lips dried shut she simply nodded in reply.

"I trust you remember me. Though I believe back then we communicated via astral projection," he said as he swept a hand through his unnaturally spiky hair, "I could skip the formalities, but I don't think you were properly introduced to all the members the last time we met. I am Pein, and this is my partner, Konan." He indicated a tall woman with blue hair that was pinned up and had a white paper flower proudly adorning it. Then, he moved through all the other members purposely skipping Hidan, Deidara, and Ino.

"You appear to be confused as to why you are here," Pein said as he began to pace around the circle all the while keeping his eyes glued to her, "I know you are aware of the death of Kakuzu and the defection of Orochimaru. Both of these…_incidents…_have left us unnecessarily crippled. Up until recently, we were unable to attain the missing ring from Orochimaru's possession, but with his death by the hands of Uchiha Sasuke we were able to easily regain it. Do you understand where I am going with this, Tenten?"

Tenten suddenly felt very much alone. She was under the scrutiny of the man that was quite possibly able to destroy _any _village with the snap of his fingers. Letting a small shudder pass through her shoulders, she replied.

"I'm afraid I cannot follow," she said. The statement itself was mostly false, but she found the concept extremely hard to believe. Pein simply nodded his understanding before walking the perimeter of the circle once more.

"Fine then, I will stop trying to side step this. Tenten, I wish for you to become a member of this organization," he said, now coming to a full stop beside Konan. Tenten now noticed that the two of them looked eerily _right _together, as though they had been in each other's presence for a long time. She also became brutally aware that if she were to deny this position…she would die. There would be no more heroic rescue scenes and damsel-in-distress situations. She had _chosen _this, and now there was no turning her back on it.

Out of the corner of her eye, Tenten saw Ino standing stock still her eyes glued to the man that was still patiently awaiting his answer. With another shudder, the brunette realized that whatever _she _chose would also decide the fate of her friend. The choice seemed almost painstakingly obvious now that all the details were out in the open.

"Er…I accept," she said awkwardly, not really knowing if she was supposed to be formal, but in the end she decided it really didn't matter. Now that she had accepted, there was no backing out. The Akatsuki was almost like a gang in that concept.

Immediately after the words left her mouth, she was left feeling strongly dissatisfied. Tenten had basically just sold her soul to the Devil, and no one in the room looked any bit affected by it, besides Ino. Vaguely, the brunette was aware of the small hand that was on her shoulder courtesy of her friend.

Pein nodded once more, satisfied with her decision. Then, he slowly crossed the circle towards her. Involuntarily, she flinched when his hand flew towards her. Then, after thoroughly embarrassing herself, she noticed that there was something lying in his outstretched palm. Hesitantly, she took the small object from his hand, careful not to touch any of his skin with her own. As soon as it left his hand, Pein lowered his arm and took a few steps backward.

"That is an actual ring that is to be worn at all times on the pinky of your left hand," he said as she stared at the piece of metal that wasn't at all unfamiliar to her. Fighting back the nostalgia, she slipped the large ring over her left little finger. Tenten was almost positive that it would not fit her, so when the ring suddenly _shrunk _so that it fit she almost cried out in horror. Suddenly, a strange warmth spread throughout her limbs and she was greeted with the sight of her nails turning a dark black.

_Odd…the last time I was here he made me paint them black, _she thought. _But then, I was wearing an imposter, psycho, memory-stealing ring._

"It allows us to keep in contact," Pein said simply, even though she was already aware of that fact. She simply nodded and continued to stare at her hand in fascination.

"Well, now that we have that out of the way there comes the matter of your partner," he said. Tenten glanced at Hidan guessing that he was most likely to become her partner. "I was going to partner you with Hidan, since he was the only member without someone, but now that we must factor Ino-san into this, I'm not so sure."

There was a tense silence that filled the air directly after that statement. Ino couldn't possibly be inducted into the Akatsuki; she simply didn't have the rank or skill. Not that she was weak, but after three years in an almost vegetative state you can become…rusty.

"Ino will not be joining our ranks due to past complications, but she will have to be trained and taken as a subordinate just like Tobi with Zetsu. So…I think this will work best: Konan and I will remain partnered, as will Kisame and Itachi. Now the others will work like this, Zetsu, since you have the most experience with this other than Deidara, you will take Tobi as your partner once more. Then," Pein said, turning to the four standing in the shadows, trying not to be noticed, "Tenten you will be with Deidara since you both excel in long distance combat, which leaves Hidan who will take Ino as a subordinate in training."

Shocked, Tenten's eyes shot over to Deidara only to see him looking at her with the same expression. Ino looked positively horrified, while Hidan looked unaffected. Blinking, she realized that everyone was already filing out of the room silently because idle chitchat was a waste of time.

"Well, I think this will work out well! I mean, Hidan and Ino are both mind fucks so it should be okay, un," Deidara said, breaking the silence that surrounded the four. Ino immediately jumped at him and tackled him to the ground, throttling him.

"I'm not a mind fuck, you asshole!" Ino yelled, temporarily forgetting the strange partner assignments. Sighing, Tenten averted her eyes to the ground in front of her afraid to meet Hidan's eyes.

"Well, it wasn't what I was expecting, but who gives a shit really. This organization is just one big fucking joke anyway. Besides, we hardly ever do any _real _missions anymore, so it's not a big deal," Hidan said with a shrug. Tenten's eyes shot to his face to meet the grimace that adorned his features.

"Well, it's a big deal to me," she said quietly as Ino and Deidara finally picked themselves off the ground.

"Alright, I guess we better go on about our business then, un," Deidara said as he flipped a stray piece of blonde hair over his shoulder.

"Yeah," Tenten agreed. Hidan rolled his eyes and Ino shrugged, just going along with anything. And everything felt back to normal…

So why was everything so fucked up?

* * *

Sakura groaned as she heard someone faintly calling her name. It was faint at first, but it was slowly gaining power and annoyance. With another groan, she blew a small strand of her pink hair out of her face and curled tighter around her sleeping bag.

"Come on Sakura! You've been sleeping for forever!" The voice said in annoyance, obviously getting aggravated with her. Sakura couldn't really care less, anything to gain more sleep.

"Go away, I had a long night," she said in a sleepy mumble, not sure if her words were coherent to the person or not. She felt a rough shake on her leg, and with a grunt she kicked the assailant away from her.

"Alright that's it! I held my patience long enough!" The distinctly male voice shouted before there was yet another tug on her foot. Slowly, her body began to drag across the ground in accordance to the man's wishes. Quickly coming to her senses, Sakura opened her eyes to find Kiba, of all people, dragging her, sleeping bag and all, out of the tent and into the clearing that they had made their campsite. As soon as they were completely out into the midmorning sunlight, the rosette kunoichi jumped up and growled in frustration.

"Okay dog boy, you've pissed me off for the last time!" She ground out before launching herself at him. Unfortunately, he was quicker and moved out of her way in time to avoid her attack, and she ended up falling into the dirt. Shaking with rage, she stood and sent a glare that could kill in his direction. Kiba simply snickered at her battered appearance and patted his dogs' head.

"Damn, I knew you looked like a hag, but really Sakura you could take off the mask," he teased before jumping away once more as she once again attempted to throttle him. Just as he was about to let out another comment, Shino and Neji entered the clearing holding some fish that they had caught in the nearby stream.

"I find it hard to believe that we left you alone for a mere five minutes and you're already fighting," Neji said with a small smirk on his features. The small group had grown used to Sakura and Kiba's constant bickering during the two weeks they had been searching for the missing kunoichi. Another week and they were going to be forced to call of the search and declare Ino and Tenten missing ninja. It had also been two weeks since Sakura had had that dream about Itachi, and so far it had repeated itself every night. This caused her already hectic sleeping patterns to become even more irregular.

"Hey, where's Hinata?" Sakura asked, noticing the absence of her female friend.

"She is refreshing herself in the stream," Shino supplied before sitting down to help Neji clean the fish. Kiba immediately took this opportunity to start talking to the other shinobi, apparently already fed up with Sakura's company.

Rolling her jade green eyes, she took a seat on the other side of the fire circle from the three men. Sighing, she quickly became bored with the situation and began to play with her long pink hair, still unaccustomed to the length. Quickly, she tied it all up in a low ponytail leaving her two bangs hanging down to frame her pale face.

As soon as Hinata returned, breakfast went quickly. The small group ate quickly and washed quickly, and almost too soon Sakura found they were running through the tall treetops. No sign of the Akatsuki had put everybody in a rather sour mood and left him or her all wanting to simply be done with it and go home, but nonetheless they kept traveling.

The trees sped by as they ran along the border of Rain hoping to find any sort of clue as to where they had gone. Sakura was crossing her fingers behind her back.

Not finding Ino and Tenten meant absolutely no fighting whatsoever…which meant they weren't her enemies…

Yet.

* * *

Tenten hung back from Deidara giving him enough space to sit on the flying clay bird in peace. They had been partnered for at least two weeks now, yet neither of them seemed able to cooperate unless there was a battle going on. She could easily admit that they made an intense team because their fighting styles complimented each other's almost flawlessly. It was just too awkward to be in a five-foot radius of each other when there was no chance of dying.

Deidara was scanning the ground attempting to find any threats that would prevent the rest of the Akatsuki to make it safely into Rain. Pein had recently decided that they were going to relocate to a more convenient location, which had them all traipsing off to a country where it constantly rained thus the name. Pein, Konan, Zetsu, and Tobi had already been able to slip into the country unnoticed, and now the rest of the organization was attempting to earn safe passage with little to no confrontation.

Their constructed plan was to have Tenten and Deidara go up into the air and search for any dangers below. Then, if nothing was found give a signal and everyone else could quickly move. If something was found, they were to quickly and easily take care of it while the others moved on.

Rolling her eyes at the idiocy, Tenten began to scan the ground in sight of any movement. She quickly fell into the routine of search, search, search, think you see something, become disappointed that it was just Hidan waving, and search some more. Suddenly, a gasp from behind her nearly had her flying off the bird, but she kept her balance and glanced back at Deidara to see what had caused the stir.

"Look, a team from Konoha," he said in a whisper, bypassing the trademark grunt at the end of his sentence because of the seriousness. Tenten's eyes widened at the information and she crawled over to the edge to see that he was right. Her chocolate brown eyes were easily able to trace five bobbing heads as they moved in the trees.

"What should we do?" She asked, her eyes still bulging from her sockets.

"Dispose of them," he said as he launched himself from the side of the bird, probably already preparing some clay bombs. Gasping, Tenten watched him fall before gulping and also launching herself off the side, holding her straw hat firmly in place.

* * *

Sakura was quickly losing hope with the situation. Nothing was happening and she was becoming ridiculously sick of watching Neji's hair sway back and forth. Suddenly, time slowed down as a cloaked figure landed in a crouch just a branch away. The branch nearly broke from the force of the fall, but it quickly stabilized as the cloaked figure pulled out a long staff with a rather long blade protruding from the end. Then, as time continued to go in slow motion, the person in the cloak with red clouds and a straw hat launched at her intending to run her through with the weapon. Slowly, her eyes widened as she realized it was too late to dodge.

Grunting, she fell back as something solid slammed into her body from the side. Not able to keep her balance, Sakura fell from the branch and began to fly towards the ground. She clenched her eyes tightly, waiting for the impact…

It never came.

* * *

Tenten grimaced as her shot at Sakura missed because of Inuzuka Kiba. The man in question was practically growling at her, while his dog, Akamaru, was whimpering probably not understanding the sudden confrontation between former allies. Kiba quickly flew through a set of hand seals and his nails elongated into claws, while his already extended canines also grew in size.

"I told that bastard that you were one of them," Kiba practically growled at her. Narrowing her eyes under her hat, she prepared to fight him off. No matter how reluctant she was to fight them, this was something she had to do. At least Neji was nowhere in sight.

_Seems I thought too soon, _she thought grimly as Neji appeared beside Kiba. The stoic man whispered something to the feral man, and, with a quick glare, Kiba left the two alone.

"He's not the man I expected you to be with. It appears my deductions about your fickleness were correct," Neji said with a frown marring his rather handsome face. Tenten frowned and threw off the hat that was protecting her face from being seen.

"He's just my partner, Neji, not my lover," she said while glaring at her best friend. He simply sighed and fell to the forest floor expecting her to follow. Grimacing, she jumped down and landed across the clearing from him.

"I cannot seem to fathom your reasons for betraying me," he said, a flicker of pain crossing his face before disappearing, "Especially for a man you claimed you hated so deeply."

At this, he pulled something from his kunai pouch and tossed it into the neutral ground between them. Letting her eyes leave his figure for a moment, Tenten noticed that it was her diary, the one she had been keeping for three years straight.

"How dare you invade my privacy!" She yelled at him, her anger surfacing as her face contorted in rage.

"Your privacy was abandoned when you abandoned us," he said as he spit on the ground. Tenten's expression quickly changed from anger to hurt. She knew Neji detested spitting and only reserved the action for when he truly thought something, or some_one_, was detestable.

"Fine!" Tenten practically screamed at him before slipping out a dozen kunai's from her weapons pouch and quickly ridding herself of the heavy cloak. With a frown placed firmly on her face, she launched the weapons straight at Neji with an expertise only she held. Neji easily dodged them all while activating his Byakugan. Losing her temper at his utter calmness, the brunette cried out and sprinted toward him with her staff pulled back and ready for her to shove into his gut.

Tenten allowed her weapon to move out at him, and she grimaced once more when he easily maneuvered his body to the side to avoid her attack. Quickly, she clicked the button on her staff and watched it diminish in size until it was normal once more. With practiced ease, she slipped a few senbon from her choker and held them in between her fingers using them as claws. Rapidly, she began to slash at him hoping to get some of the acid into his system. Neji easily avoided her strikes not even attempting to fight back, just simply allowing her to wear herself out.

With an aggravated growl, Tenten threw her senbon to the forest floor and stood before him, huffing.

"Why the hell aren't you fighting back?" She yelled at him, the question reverberating through the area. By this time, she was panting from her anger and the one-sided effort she had put into the fight.

"I know all of your moves, Tenten," Neji said slowly, "And I deducted that the best strategy at defeating you would be to allow you to wear out your energy, and then I would close your chakra points. Also, because of your raging emotions the outcome of this match had been _fated _since it began." The word, fate, once being a joke between the two was now used a purposeful insult against her.

"I know all of your moves too, Neji!" She said moving toward him, becoming ashamed of herself and the pathetic display she was putting on. Her fists began to clench as all of her anger, frustration, and shame rose inside her. With a half-hearted growl, Tenten attempted to punch him in the face. Neji quickly grabbed her wrist and stopped her movement.

"Stop this foolishness, Tenten," he said as he practically dragged her towards him, "You know full well that because of this fight, I must return to Konoha with news of your betrayal…and then the bounty hunters will come. Believe me when I say that they will not allow such foolish behavior to slip by without killing you first."

"Let go of me, Hyuuga," she said as she grit her teeth in aggravation. Neji did not comply with her wishes, but continued to pull her closer until she was right in front of him looking up into his odd, silver eyes.

Almost inappropriately, Tenten realized something in that moment.

She must really _love _the color silver.

* * *

Sakura bit her lip as she tried to understand why she hadn't died. The only other thing that she could comprehend at the moment was that she was moving, which must have meant that someone had caught her. Noticing the silence, she most definitely knew that it wasn't Kiba; noticing the rather masculine arms, she most _definitely _knew that it wasn't Hinata. So, deciding to take a gamble she opened her mouth.

"Erm, thank you Shino-san…I almost died," she stated rather awkwardly, and Sakura could already feel the blush rising to her cheeks as she contemplated the stoic man's response.

"I am not Aburame-san, Haruno-san." Though not many words were spoken, the voice itself was enough to chill the blood running through Haruno Sakura's veins. All blood that had been flushing her cheeks now rushed to her heart in an effort to simply keep it beating, and all thoughts about awkward conversations with bug men flew from her mind as those five words continuously repeated in her mind.

It was _his _voice…

The one voice she knew she could never mistake…

The one voice that had haunted her nightmares for days now…

_Uchiha Itachi…_

* * *

**A/N: Well that's the gist of it people. Hopefully you all will tune in next time to find out exactly what happens!**

**Hopefully I can rake in more reviews this time around.**

**A sincere thank you to all of you that continue to review. Your words seriously make my day, and keep me from going insane. I love to know what you think, and a review shows me that you took time out of your day to slap some words down to either praise or criticize my work. Truly, I don't give a rat's ass about whether you love it, like it, or hate it…just tell me!**

_Contest time: Well, no one entered the contest yet. Seriously people, you could send me a stick figure drawing and at this point it would most likely win! I'm not artist, I more of a music person. I just want to see some nice artwork, so put together some lines and colors and call it a picture! Remember: the winner gets a cameo appearance in this story!_


	6. The Breaking Point

**A/N: Well, I'm back everyone, and I must say that you guys received the last chapter like it was candy! I'm so glad everyone enjoyed it, and I'm also glad that I had so many positive reviews! You all make my day worth going through!**

**I would like to sincerely apologize for the extreme lateness of this chapter. Once band camp started, my summer officially went down the drain, and I just couldn't find the time to write this! I am deeply sorry my faithful readers and reviewers for the disappointment.**

**Thanks to all my reviewers for the last chapter: Xioa, Trapped In The Dark, animeluver7, MoriMori, TheMafiaQueen, JenKonoha, Takara Uchiha, NJung, cloudydreams4, ItY'girl, black55widow, krazykoreangurl, Crazedchocolatefan, Myrvann, cranberrieraven, KuroInu579, Cute-Killer-Gurl, KeitaPekoe, Sakita, knightchaser, DJ Pocky, TuffMuffin, Flickerswift, Starlitsapphire**

**And a very special thanks to Meilin Son for not only reviewing but also entering two amazing pieces into my contest! Thank you for your hard work and dedication!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. –Insert some kind of comment here-**

* * *

_Chapter 6: The Breaking Point_

"Though your gaze in not unwelcome, I find it rather inappropriate," Neji said as held her wrists in his 'gentle' fists. The comment instantly knocked Tenten from her inner musings, and she set her features into a glare.

"Shut up, Neji, and let me go, damn it!" She yelled in his face while her own face grew steadily redder from her aggravation. Tenten was now directly against his body with only her wrists and his hands keeping any semblance of space between the two.

"You're being rather ridiculous," he stated calmly, as though he wasn't trying to keep her from escaping. Now, her arms and hands began to shake from pure rage, and she started to yank and tug her arms to attempt to get away from him. Narrowing his eyes at her behavior, he freed one hand from her wrists, now using one to hold them both together, and slapped her across the face. Instantly, Tenten stopped struggling against him and became still, her eyes plastered open. For some reason, Neji's hand slackened against the hold he had on her wrist and she immediately forgot to be shocked and ripped her arms from his grasp, leaping away to a safer distance.

Not wasting any time, the kunoichi began to run back towards her silent best friend. While sprinting, she pulled out her favorite staff, lengthening it to its normal size. Holding it parallel to the ground, Tenten slammed it into Neji's body, which shoved him rather forcefully into a tree behind him. Using her staff as a bar, Tenten pressed it roughly into him so he couldn't move his arms. Finally, Neji looked up at her, and his perfect silver, pearl eyes were brimming with betrayal. Now granted if she had been any other person she wouldn't have seen this, but seeing as she _was _his best friend…it was rather obvious.

"I thought myself in love with you," he said in a near whisper. And although it was spoken very quietly, to Tenten this particular phrase seemed to resonate around the clearing, sending shivers down her spine. She grit her teeth before slamming her staff into him once more, hoping the bark was cutting into the skin of his back. Undeterred, Neji kept speaking in the unnaturally quiet voice.

"You betrayed me for a man that betrayed you…I believe my idea of life and morals have been completely altered. Tell me, Tenten, are you happy right this moment?" He asked, looking into her chocolate brown eyes. For a mere second, Tenten contemplated screaming at him, but then something seemed to come over her because she decided against it. Instead, she sighed and licked her upper lip before replying.

"…Yes…I've been happier since I left Konoha…"

"That is not what I asked. I asked if you were happier without me as your teammate, comrade, and most of all…your friend. Are you happier away from _me_, Tenten?"

Seconds ticked by as she contemplated her answer. He was basically asking if she would rather be around him, her best friend since the academy, or Hidan, essentially the biggest asshole alive and the man she chose.

"…I suppose I am…"

"…I also supposed so…"

Minutes dragged on as they stared at each other, neither one moving just breathing. Finally, the silence was broken by the brunette kunoichi.

"I don't regret anything…"

"I guessed as much…"

"Are you going to leave me alone?"

"…Never…"

For the first time since leaving her home, her friends, and her life, tears began to well up in her perfectly round eyes.

"I wouldn't have it any other way…"

She spoke in his low whisper before disappearing into the surrounding plant life, ready to go on to Ame, where a new life awaited her…

…A new life without Hyuuga Neji.

* * *

Ino blasted through the trees, going as fast as she could to move into the Rain territory with the rest of the Akatsuki. All she knew was that Tenten and Deidara had seen something and taken the initiative to eliminate the threat. This was her cue to hall ass out of Fire country and into Rain. She didn't know whom they were fighting, and frankly, she didn't care. It was probably just some ANBU border guard doing their usual check on the border, which in that case they were in for a surprise. It wasn't everyday that the Akatsuki happened to be right on your front yard.

Just as she was about to cross over into safe territory, Deidara jumped down beside her. He seemed rather frazzled and worn, and he also appeared to be attempting to get away from something.

"Damn, these bastards are relentless! You want to give me a hand?" He asked, turning her way for assistance. Apparently, these enemies were enough of a challenge for him to ask for her assistance even though she hadn't even considered fighting for three years.

"Yeah, sure," she replied, not really caring about the consequences so long as she could help. Ino hated feeling useless, and now opportunity had come knocking and she wasn't going to ignore the doorbell.

"Okay, great. You probably know what you're up against better than I do, so I'll skip the whole information thing, un," Deidara said as he came to a stop on his current branch, and turned to face the oncoming chakra signatures…

…Which seemed very familiar to Ino. So familiar in fact, she didn't know if she wanted to help anymore. But, just as she was about to change her mind, three figures flew through the foliage and stopped in front of them. Ino almost cringed at the glare she was receiving from Inuzuka Kiba.

"Give Sakura back, Yamanaka!" Kiba yelled across the tress that separated them. Ino immediately froze when she heard this statement. Last time she had seen Sakura; they had both been in a rather vegetative state.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," she said meekly, now worried about her friend.

"Oh, right Ino! People with pink hair don't just disappear!" Kiba continued as Akamaru began to bark from beside him. Ino saw Hinata attempt to calm her teammate, but it was useless. Fortunately, before she had the chance to respond, an explosion rocked the tree the team from Konoha was standing on and caused it to begin to topple. Ino glanced over at Deidara and saw that he looked rather irritated about something.

"You'll find your friend with the Hyuuga!" He shouted across the clearing before taking her hand and leading her away from the fallen tree.

"How do you know Sakura's really there?" She asked, not really willing to walk away if there was any chance that her friend was in any danger. Deidara huffed and glanced at her from the corner of his eye.

"I got a message from Itachi, un," he said as he pointed to his head to show that they had communicated through telepathy. Ino's face scrunched in confusion at this information because she didn't know that not only were they linked to Pein, but they could all communicate freely through the telepathy from the ring.

"We're all connected when we're wearing this ring, so we always know if someone takes it off, which is why that's strictly forbidden because it's assumed that once you take if off you're dead to the organization, un," Deidara clarified when he noticed the confusion etched onto Ino's face.

"So, now that we've lost them…we're pretty much safe?" She asked once his previous information sunk in. In reply, Deidara shrugged his shoulders with only one comment.

"As Akatsuki, we're never really safe, un."

* * *

Sakura's eyes snapped open after she registered who was talking. Indeed, Uchiha Itachi was staring down at her, his blood red eyes betraying nothing of what he was thinking or feeling. It was with this that her survival instincts kicked in, and she began to squirm and kick in an attempt to get out of his hold.

"Relax, Haruno-san…I'm not going to harm you. I only wish to speak with you," Itachi said as he came to a stop in the middle of the vast forest.

"Well, I don't want to talk to you," she yelled hoping that someone would hear her and come to help. She did sense _someone_ coming, but it wasn't whom she wanted to come at this moment. At this point, the _someone _came bursting through the canopy of leaves surrounding them and stopped next to Itachi.

"Yo, Itachi what's up with the pinkie?" Hoshigaki Kisame stated as he shifted his weight from his left leg to his right so he could get a better look at her. Kisame looked down at her, and recognition seemed to flutter across his features as he smirked showing his set of rather long, pointy teeth. Sakura's eyebrows drew down at his remembrance, and she wracked her brain for any point in time that she had come face to face with the missing Kiri-nin.

"Oh, it's you. Man, you pack one hell of a punch! My jaw still hurts at night sometimes," he said, giving said appendage a rub to heighten his point. At this point, Sakura became thoroughly confused. There wasn't a time that she could remember even meeting him, let alone _hitting _him.

"Kisame, that's enough. Go on. I'll meet you there soon," Itachi said, giving his partner a pointed look, well, what Sakura assumed was a pointed look for Itachi. Kisame seemed to roll his black, beady eyes before resuming his initial progress into Rain.

"Now, Haruno-san…I have no time to waste, so I will not waste either of our time," he said as he set her onto her feet while keeping a firm grasp on her shoulder. Sakura looked over at the hand that was attached to her and gave a half-hearted attempt to shirk it off.

"Itachi, I don't know what the hell is going on here, and, frankly, I'm not sure I want to know. All I know is that somehow you're here, you know my name, and I've been having horrible nightmares where you're the main character for two weeks now…So tell me, why the fuck have you invaded my mind?!" She said, her words gaining in power until the very end where she found herself screaming at him. Any reaction Sakura had been expecting was not seen on the face of the Uchiha prodigy. Instead, he used his free hand to wipe off some of her spit that had landed on his face, and then he calmly brought his attention back to the raging rosette kunoichi before him.

"I'm not sure why my presence has pervaded your mind, but I'm not here to discuss that. I need you to do me a favor, Haruno-san," he said very seriously. Sakura's expression went from furious, to confused, to stunned, to furious once more in a matter of seconds.

"Okay, let me get this straight. You fuck with my mind, basically kidnap me, and now you want _me _to do _you _a favor. Hell no, Uchiha-_san­_," she refuted with a glare before once again trying to escape his death grip. Again, Itachi refused to relent his grip.

"You did not listen to all I had to say. I need you to do me a favor, and in return, I shall grant you a favor," he said, his crimson eyes almost glittering from the sunlight filtering through the treetops. The statement itself was enough to catch Sakura's interest. Slowly, she let her anger subside, and instead she settled for a suspicious glare.

"Okay, and this favor you do for me…there's no questions asked, just anything I want you to do for me?" She asked, knowing she shouldn't trust him but not able to let the opportunity pass through her fingers. Hell, if he was willing to do _anything, _she might be able to get him to turn himself into Konoha, or maybe give up his chase on Naruto.

"Exactly," Itachi replied, a small smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. Sakura wasn't sure what his game was, but this…this chance, she couldn't let it go…

"…Fine. What do you want me to do?" She asked, resigning herself to this fate. If anyone ever found out about this, she would be sent straight to Ibiki, or maybe even worse. With a sigh, she pushed those thoughts aside and allowed him to continue.

"Excellent. Now, the task is simple. I need you to travel into the abandoned Uchiha complex, and it goes without saying that you need to stay hidden from view. Then, when you get there, you will need to go to where my immediate family once resided, and find my father's study. After that, you will find a secret room hidden behind the bookshelf Travel into it, and acquire me the scroll that contains the secret to the Mangekyou Sharingan. Sasuke wants it, and we don't need him bringing unnecessary attention to himself by breaking into his home village. Plus, it will make him that much more eager to find me. Also, leave as many traces of yourself there as you can. When he arrives, he'll know who to find," Itachi explained. Sakura almost wished that she had brought a notebook to take notes on. He said it was simple, but there were so many steps…and…the place she needed to go to sent shivers down her spine.

"Alright. I understand. When I have acquired the scroll for you, where do I bring it?" She asked meekly, becoming nervous about the choice she had made.

"Right here," he said simply, before pulling out a kunai hidden in his cloak with his free hand. Sakura immediately went on the defensive, bringing her fists up in front of her. Itachi merely took the ninja tool and sliced a deep line into the bark of the tree they were standing on. She let her muscles relax as he shoved the weapon back into his cloak and brought his hand back out without anything in it.

"But…won't the border patrol find us here?" She asked, not sure that such a place was secure enough for such a top-secret meeting. Itachi's lips quirked up almost unnoticeably into a smirk.

"I believe you are forgetting that I was once in ANBU, Haruno-san. I know all of the border patrol's routes…and none go past this specific part of the woods. As long as we keep our chakra signatures hidden, I believe we will go undetected," he said in his infuriating monotone, not even slightly worried about the implications of this deal. Sakura scowled, but let the issue drop for now. He _was _the genius.

"Fine…So, I come here _when _exactly?" She asked, disgruntled that he could remain so damn _calm. _

"We shall meet again in two days time. I believe that is sufficient enough time for you to complete the task and travel here," Itachi said as he removed the hand from her shoulder and took a step back from her, "Now, I believe a teammate of yours requires your medical assistance, so I will allow you to leave. Just follow these identical marks in the trees to find your way back here. Also Haruno-san, think carefully about what your favor is."

Just as she was about to ask what he meant, he disappeared in a swirl of leaves leaving her alone on the tree branch. Something inside of her longed for him to return, the same part of her that hadn't outright attacked him as soon as he placed her on her feet. Her eyebrows knit in confusion, not understanding why she would want to be around him. Everything about him screamed evil-psycho-mass-murderer, so why would a loyal Konoha kunoichi like herself _desire _his companionship.

Shaking her head to clear herself of those thoughts, she headed back to where she had last seen her teammates. Sakura was first and foremost a Konoha kunoichi. If there was even the chance that one of her friends were hurt, she had to be there to help heal them. Zooming through the thick trees, she arrived in a small clearing to find Neji simply standing there with his back to her. From her position, she could clearly see his torn shirt and the small cuts that had formed on his back obviously from being pushed roughly into a tree.

Slowly, she walked towards him before placing a gentle hand on his stiff shoulder. He immediately flinched away from the contact and turned to face her. Obviously he had been expecting someone else because he seemed to deflate with relief.

"Sakura-san, it's good that you are safe. I was afraid that your fall might have injured you somehow," Neji said in a very tight, clipped voice that was jaded with stress. She gave him a reassuring smile and flipped her long bubblegum pink hair over her shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. I managed to catch myself in time. You on the other hand seem to have some mild lacerations. Let me fix those up for you or they're going to itch like crazy later on," Sakura replied, trying to keep her own stress hidden from her voice. Neji set his mouth into a small frown.

"Maybe you should wait to see how the others are before healing my minor injuries. I do not want you to waste chakra." With that, he turned away from her again and began to move in the direction of their teammate's chakra signatures.

"Right."

Slowly, Sakura was beginning to think more on Itachi's little offer. As she followed her team leader to the rest of her friends, she began to think back on the entire mission and how all of her comrades had been coddling her this entire time. Constantly making her realize how much weaker she was than the rest of them. Even when Tenten had leapt at her, she probably would have been able to avoid it if she were a better ninja. Of course, their worries weren't without proof. She had fumbled most of this mission and without their help she probably would have died in some ridiculous fashion.

Maybe she _should _think more carefully over Itachi's offer…

* * *

**A/N: Again I would like to apologize for the lateness and shortness of this chapter, but the shortness is ascribed to the reason that I didn't want to go any farther into the plot line than this. Trust me, you guys are going to _love _what happens from here on out! Also, I have a new story out for all of you DeidaraXSakura lovers out there, so please check it out!**

**A sincere thank you to all of you that continue to review. Your words seriously make my day, and keep me from going insane. I love to know what you think, and a review shows me that you took time out of your day to slap some words down to either praise or criticize my work. Truly, I don't give a rat's ass about whether you love it, like it, or hate it…just tell me!**

_Contest Time: I'm keeping the contest open for one more chapter, so get your work in! So far, I'm absolutely in love with Meilin Son's work. It's absolutely beautiful, so keep up the good work! Remember the tempting offer of a cameo appearance!_


	7. Longest Night

**A/N: Well, here I am! I'm back! I bet you all missed me! No? Well then, screw you all then! I'm kidding of course, but I'm actually really excited to where this story is headed. It's going to be a wild emotional ride, kiddies, so hold onto your hats and let's begin!**

**Oh, and yes** _Meilin Son_,** I did love your work, it's beautiful. Sorry I didn't reply, I've just been horrendously busy.**

**Thanks to all the reviewers of the last chapter: Thursday, black55widow, yellow eyes, Okuyukashii, S. Kathryn, Crazedchocolatefan, lehcar-light, Jen Konoha, Meilin Son, KeitaPekoe, Sakita, Nasis, insaneonex.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. –Witty banter, perhaps? –**

* * *

_They wanted to speak, but could not; tears stood in their eyes. They were both pale and thin; but those sick pale faces were bright with the dawn of a new future, of a full resurrection into a new life. They were renewed by love; the heart of each held infinite sources of life for the heart of the other. –From Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky_

* * *

_Chapter 7: Longest Night_

The day seemed never ending as Sakura moved sluggishly through a barren side street in Konoha. Ever since the team had returned, a certain Uchiha had been on her mind. Unfortunately, it wasn't Sasuke like it always used to be. Instead, his treacherous elder brother was pervading her thoughts like a flesh eating virus, picking away at her very life force. Everyone in her life continuously asked her if they could do anything to help, and, of course, she had to turn down every single one of them. No one could know her little secret, if it could even be called little anymore. Stealing from the Uchiha compound barely seemed like a _little _secret. Though the deed itself seemed heinous, Sakura found herself barely even thinking about that. It was all that deal that she had made. She felt like she was a pen stroke away from signing over her soul to the Devil…or Itachi in this case. Was there even a difference anymore? She certainly hoped not because she would never be able to make a differentiation.

It ate her up inside knowing that when the time came, she wasn't going to be able to make the right choice for her village. Now, Sakura had never really been known to be selfish, but when it was thrown in your face daily that you fell horribly behind, you tend to want to make some improvement. Honestly, she had tried. She had tried very hard to improve herself to the level that her friends were at. Ever since that fateful meeting with Itachi, she had worked day and night to better herself. Nothing ever worked. She didn't even know what to practice!

Tsunade would not be very proud of her little apprentice if she knew what she was planning. Sasuke would kill her on spot if he ever learned about her inner musings.

Sakura was going to ask Itachi to train her.

It sounded so ridiculously stupid to waste a once in a lifetime favor on something so trivial. But, really, who better to train her than the best ninja to ever reside within Konoha's borders. Tsunade had done enough to help her. It was time she learned something new. Medical ninjutsu could only get you so far in life. When the time came, Sakura knew she was going to be hesitant. But her mind was made up on this…so, when the time came, she knew that that was going to be the favor that bubbled up from her lips.

In fact, her two days were up. Tonight, she was to meet with her dark oppressor once more.

Sakura sighed at the thought, continuing on her way to the foreboding, abandoned complex that loomed just around the next corner. She stopped for a moment to collect her emotions and allowed her ninja instincts to take over. Gathering in a low crouch next to the wall that bordered the alley, she slunk around the corner staying hidden in the shadows. It was the first thing any kunoichi learned in the Academy. Stealth was especially important for the females because of their natural physical weakness, and fortunately for her, she was rather good at it. She was glad to find out that this particular skill never died along with all of her others.

Luckily, practically no one was on the streets at the moment because of the annual festival that was going on in the center of town, which explained why the roseate was being forced to run around in a formal kimono until she was safely outside of the village walls. It was common knowledge that it was better to be safe than sorry.

Sakura immediately stopped at the looming gate that barred entrance to the massive clan complex. A chilled wind seemed to surround the entire place, screaming that there was no one living on the other side. Firming her resolve, she opened a crack between the gates big enough for only her body to fit through, flinching when they creaked from under use. Looking around frantically to see if anyone noticed, she sighed in relief and slipped through. Nudging the large metal doors closed, she practically sprinted away from the entrance to find the home where Sasuke once lived.

The compound's walls were still littered with kunai, showing the struggle that the Uchiha's went through to stop their prodigal son. Sakura moved from the dusty dirt path that went straight through the center to the wooden porches that were lined with shoji doors signifying homes. As she walked past, she noticed nameplates that stated the names of the occupants. It was obviously a method for people not to get lost like she herself was at the very moment. Some of the given names were blotched out with splotches of dried blood, staining the once perfect, crisp white walls a horrific crimson.

The way Sakura saw it by this point was the sooner she got the hell out of this place the better. She shot down the porch towards the back of the complex where she remembered watching Sasuke go when they dropped him off at home after practice. Back then, she was always so curious about his dark past. Now, it just crept her out. Nothing in this place even _felt _like someone lived here. It was like Itachi erased all the memories along with the people.

Finally, she arrived at the main house. The nameplate next to the door had Sasuke's parent's names, followed by a large 'x', and lastly Sasuke's name on the bottom. It was apparent that Sasuke had done everything in his power to remove all signs that Itachi existed, even going so far as to scratch out his name. Stepping inside, she noticed that nothing was out of place. The entire home looked like someone had been living in it just last week. Hell, if not for all the collective dust, Sakura would have thought that someone _had _been living in this place. There were even some disgustingly dirty dishes in the sink. Obviously, Sasuke wasn't in to leaving his house only after he cleaned it up.

Swallowing a rather large lump in her throat, she moved forward attempting to search for Fugaku's office or whatever it was Itachi had called it. Even as she moved through the inch thick layer of dust that coated the floor, Sakura couldn't help but feel like she was ransacking the sanctity of the dead. Didn't Sasuke's own family die in this house? The thought sent a multitude of shivers down her spine.

The floorboards creaked under her weight testifying to the length of time that anyone had actually lived here. The hallway continued to drag on as she passed room after never-ending room.

'_Bedroom, bedroom, closet, bathroom, closet, bedroom, office, bedroom…wait what?' _

Retracing her steps a bit, she, at long last, found the patriarch's office laying open for the taking. Biting her lip in concentration, she tried to remember where she would find this secret passageway or whatever. Looking around the room to see if anything would jog her usually limitless memory, she rested her eyes upon a lone bookshelf.

_'Bingo.'_

Slinking over to it, she pushed it aside with only a minimal amount of chakra aiding her and found there a rather obvious entrance to a secret study. The entire thing screamed cliché, but somehow, from what she'd heard, it fit Fugaku's personality perfectly. Quickly, Sakura jogged down the old wooden stairs and into the small space lit by torches. Why was it that torches never seemed to go out? Oh well, she was thankful for the light.

In the center of the farthest wall sat a cabinet that held all the secrets that the clan had never shared with Konoha. They were the secrets that any one of them, besides Itachi, would go to the grave for. Her eyebrows furrowed as she opened the cabinet only to find an impossible amount of scrolls. Already getting a headache from the sheer amount of time it would take her to search through each one of them, she reached for the nearest one.

The scroll was unsealed, which meant that either the Uchiha's were overconfident or someone was careless and forgot to reseal it. Sakura was willing to bet on either one of those options. Unfurling it, she saw a large painted picture, right in the center, of an eye, the pupils of which were red and in the center there stood a black pinwheel where the iris would usually be. The top of the scroll read, in very neat kanji, _Mangekyou Sharingan._

'_Lucky me.'_

Sakura quickly rolled the old parchment back up and straightened herself out before turning around to leave. She slipped the scroll underneath her kimono to her medic apron. Then, the small hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as she sensed a rather imposing presence glaring at her. Looking up, she saw an angry pair of red eyes staring straight through her.

"Sakura, what are you doing here?"

"Um, getting something." She was never good with words around him anyways.

"Yes, I can see that. What were you getting?"

"Nothing."

"You're lying. Give it to me." He held out his hand, knowing that his demands were usually met with her compliance.

"I can't." She didn't know why she was fighting back; the entire thing was messed up. Wasn't this what Itachi was trying to prevent in the first place?

"Just give it to me, Sakura." He was getting aggravated that she wasn't listening to him like she usually did.

"I said I couldn't, and I won't." She was still clinging to the hope to become stronger.

"You shouldn't be here, Sakura. How did you even know this existed?" The question was easy enough to get around. She could just lie and tell him that she was looking for memories of his childhood, play into his ego.

"Your brother sent me, Sasuke." No, she was a horrible liar anyways, and the answer was like word vomit, bubbling up her throat and out of her mouth before she even had the chance to think of a suitable excuse.

Sakura was almost sure she had never seen so much pure rage in a single person.

* * *

It seemed almost appropriate that they arrived in Rain country while it was raining. Ironic maybe, but most definitely appropriate. Tenten groaned under her breath as the entire Akatsuki checked into a hotel somewhere in the center of Ame. She couldn't find the logic or the safety in _all _of them sitting around in a hotel when basically the entire continent wished they were dead, but Pein had explained that Ame was a safe haven for them and they were only staying there until their new headquarters was finished being built. This caused Tenten to just go along with it and chill out. Besides, she wasn't particularly in the mood to argue about much of anything at the moment. Hell, Pein could have come up to her and told her that she had to room with _Tobi _and she wouldn't have really cared. Luckily, the stress didn't extend that far and she got to share a room with her favorite person on the planet.

Hidan.

Oh, what a lucky girl she was. She could barely put up with him the _first _time they had to awkwardly share a room. Now, as she placed her backpack on the lone bed in the room, she cringed. Tenten hated that things between them were so strained anymore. Ever since he had come and whisked her away like a knight in shining armor he hadn't been acting like himself at all. On a normal basis that wouldn't be a bad thing because the man wasn't all that friendly to begin with, but, if anything, he was even more of a prick now. It was like with the death of Kakuzu he lost anybody to argue with so now he took it all out on _everyone_. Well, besides Itachi because Itachi just didn't give a damn when Hidan tried to pick a fight. Unfortunately, she was the main outlet of his anger and, unlike Itachi, she couldn't just pretend he wasn't there.

Sighing, she sat down heavily on her bed and debated going down to the bar that was attached to the hotel they were staying in. Rubbing her temples, Tenten decided to wait at least until night fell when she could at least have a little fun. At that moment, Hidan stepped out of the bathroom, dripping wet from his shower. The shower was an almost instantaneous thing when he had stepped into the room. Drop his bags, make a rude comment, grab his razor and claim the shower.

"Man, you stink Panda, maybe you should go take a shower now," Hidan suggested as he stepped further into the room. Sitting down next to her, he sniffed her shoulder and crinkled his nose in fake disgust. Rolling her eyes, she tried to ignore his antics.

"Whatever," she muttered as she opened her bag and took out her shower supplies. Tenten found, oddly enough, that no matter how much of an asshole he was, she still desperately craved his approval.

Stepping into the bathroom and locking the door to avoid an awkward, cliché moment, she stripped out of her traveling clothes and walked under the hot streaming water. Inside the sanctuary, she allowed her mind to wander back to the moment in the forest with Neji. It had happened almost two days ago, and yet it still flooded her mind. The haunted look in his eyes as he told her how he felt about her. The twitch of his lips as she admitted to being happier without him. Everything about the moment filled her with a sense of grief that she hadn't felt since she ran desperately away from Hidan three years ago.

Tenten wasn't sure exactly why Neji made her feel so bad for what she had done. Nothing in Konoha had felt the same after she had regained her memories. Everything was so foreign. Then the thought struck her. The reason for her heartfelt regret about leaving Neji. Everything in Konoha felt foreign…everything except him. He was her tie to the real world. Without him she was positive that she probably would have drifted off into nothingness. Actually, her entire life felt like nothing after she returned.

There was nothing she could do now. She had to get rid off those thoughts. Tenten finished washing her hair and turned off the soothing water. Quickly drying off her body, she cursed herself for not bringing in a pair of new clothes. Wondering how this day could get any worse, she stepped daintily out of the bathroom. Hidan looked asleep on the bed, but she remembered the last time she had thought that.

Tiptoeing to her bag, she shuffled quietly through the contents, searching for an outfit suitable to wear to the bar. Not finding anything but her usual black ensemble, she conceded and just took that out of her bag. Glancing once more at Hidan to make sure he was still dead to the world, she began to slink back towards the bathroom. An icy grip around her wrist stopped her dead in her tracks. Fighting the urge to flip Hidan over her shoulder, she flipped around to face her attacker. His eyes roamed lazily over her figure hidden by a small towel. Never before had Tenten felt more like a piece of meat.

"Do you mind?" Tenten asked with a glare marring her usual façade. Hidan gave her _his _smirk. Seriously, the thing might as well be patented by now.

"Not really," he said simply. Anger began to leak out of Tenten, her usual limitless patience not holding up under her stress. Seeing her anger, his smirk deepened and he pulled her flush against him. Somehow, the contact seemed to wither whatever anger she had been feeling. Actually, she half expected him to slap her like Neji had when they were in this position. Noticing her change in attitude, he raised an eyebrow. The moment reminded him of all those times that she had been scared and he had brought her close to him like this only for her to be consumed by the closeness of their bodies.

"Can I get dressed now?" She asked simply, attempting to break the silence. The man was so insufferable and yet he was so desirable at the same time. Tenten wasn't sure how that was possible. In fact, she was almost positive that he only affected her like this, and somehow that didn't bother her because the thought of him being even remotely close to anyone else like this made her want to scream.

"Jashin would fucking curse me if I went through with my thoughts right now," Hidan said. The statement sent a shiver down her spine. Somehow, the comment made her realize that he wanted her just the same way that she wanted him. Gritting her teeth, she ripped her arm away from him, not willing to let the moment continue. Well, she was willing, but she wasn't sure if she would regret it. But as she walked away from him and into the bathroom, she regretted _that_ more than anything.

* * *

Ino shot out of sleep like a bat out of hell. Sweat was pouring down her pale skin, covering her in the sticky wet substance. Cursing, she glanced around the hotel room that she shared with Deidara only to find that he wasn't there. Fear was still gripping her stomach as she slung her legs over the side of the bed.

The dream, well more like nightmare, had been so expressly vivid that the blonde kunoichi had been sure that it was real. Blood had rained down from all around, not seeming to have a source but continuing to flow all the same. The droplets of crimson slapped her in the face as she fought her way through a blinding red haze. Somewhere in the background, she could make out some screaming along with an unearthly howl. Not allowing herself to be affected by the tormenting sounds, she continued through the fog not sure her destination but feeling desperation to get there all the same. Surrounding her was the coppery scent of blood, and she could taste a bit of it where she licked her lips. By this point, Ino wasn't even sure _whom _the life giving substance belonged to; all she knew was that she had to keep moving. The miasma seemed to go on forever in infinite directions, and she was losing hope _fast. _Suddenly, she tripped over something on the ground. Falling onto her weakened body, she looked behind her only to see the thing that she had been looking for. _Deidara. _His lifeless eyes stared right through her, unlike his usual expressive features, and his lips were caught in an eternal smile. Finally, she noticed the impossible way that his neck was turned and she screamed.

Waking up in the hotel room had been the biggest relief Ino had felt in a long time. Her head pounded from the terror that still gripped her heart in its icy grip. A knock on the door began to beat along with the rhythm in her skull. Sighing, she stood and walked over to the only door into the room. Opening it a crack, she saw Tenten standing on the other side with a grimace marring her features. Allowing the nightmare to recede from her thoughts for the time being, she fully opened the door and moved aside to let her friend through.

"Hey, Tenten! What brings you here?" Ino asked in the friendliest voice she could muster. The brunette dragged her feet into the humble accommodation.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go to the bar with me for a few hours," Tenten muttered as she ran her hand through her hair, which was uncharacteristically down for the evening. Shocked, the blonde stammered a few times before managing a response.

"Oh, sure. I'd love to. It just surprised me that you liked to hang around at places like that. You never showed an interest before," she replied smoothly, moving over to her pack to grab some different clothes since hers current ones were still drenched in sweat. The fact was that Ino was seriously looking forward to an opportunity to erase the memory of that nightmare from her mind's eye. Drowning herself in a few shots seemed appropriate at the time.

"Okay," Tenten responded slowly, glad for the company. The brunette kunoichi sincerely hoped that her depression wouldn't rub off on her companion, but she wouldn't feel guilty if it did. What was that old saying again? Something about misery loving company.

Ino shuffled passed Tenten to get to the bathroom to change and noticed again the strange look that her friend had plastered onto her face. Fighting the urge to ask what was wrong with her, she smiled quickly to cover up her concern and closed the bathroom door behind her.

"Hey, if Deidara comes back from wherever he is, just tell him what we're planning on doing, okay?" Ino called from the small, cold interior of the tiled restroom. She heard Tenten give her a mumbled consent, and the blonde fortified her idea to ask the brunette just what the hell was wrong with her. Of course, that was after she had loosened her up with a few drinks.

Walking back out of the bathroom, she noticed Tenten still stood in the center of the room still very much alone. She became just a little worried that Deidara hadn't returned and hadn't even left her a note as to where he was going. Giving her friend another half-hearted smile, she waved towards the door. Taking this as an invitation, Tenten stepped pass Ino and walked out of the door with the blonde following close on her heels.

* * *

Sasuke lunged for her in the darkness. Sakura immediately attempted to dodge to the left but tripped unceremoniously on her formal kimono. Cursing her luck as she laid on the floor, she began to fumble with the obi as her attacker moved into view above her. Quickly, she undid the knot and slipped the gown from her shoulders as she jumped up to defend herself against the man she was very positive was much stronger than her. Damn her coma.

The sneer on his face seemed to intensify as she backed slowly away from his approaching form. Sakura was desperately attempting to think of a way to get herself the fuck out of here. She _needed _to get to Itachi. At this point, it didn't feel like she had a choice in the matter. Itachi was like the shining light in her darkness, which seemed ironic considering how long she thought of him as the anti-Christ. Her back thumped against the wall behind her and all hope fell through a pit in her stomach as Sasuke roughly grabbed her throat and lifted her from her feet.

"Why would you listen to _him_?" Sasuke practically spit in her face. A shiver raced down her spine at the proximity of their bodies, no matter how violent.

"Let go of me," she choked out through her nearly crushed larynx. Sasuke's frown deepened and he slammed her roughly against the wall. A fleeting thought flashed through Sakura's oxygen deprived brain that this situation seemed very much familiar, but instead of Sasuke's raven black hair she half expected silver. An idea wiggled into her mind as she thought about the familiar situation. All she needed was for him to loosen his grip on her a little bit…

"Answer me, Sakura!" Sasuke bit out and she quickly became aware of his deepening anger.

"I…can't…talk," she struggled to say. Annoyed, Sasuke dropped her to the floor and yanked her back up again, this time by her shoulders. As sweet air began to pour through her lungs, she realized her opportunity had come. Déjà vu hit her in a wave as she opened her mouth.

A scream rocketed throughout the complex, blasting Sasuke's sensitive ears at their closeness. Cursing, he threw Sakura away from him across the room. As she landed roughly on the cement floor, she thanked the mystery man with silver hair that had given her the idea.

Jumping quickly to her feet as Sasuke still attempted to stop the ringing in his ears; she took off up the stairs, sprinting wildly towards the main entrance to the complex. Checking her medic apron to make sure the scroll was still inside, she hauled ass out of Sasuke's home and down the dusty main path of the Uchiha compound. Behind her, she could sense Sasuke as he closed in on her. The moment felt more like a nightmare than real life as she pushed more chakra into her legs just to keep them going. Sakura knew that if she could exit the complex that Sasuke wouldn't be able to enter into the village without fear of getting caught.

Suddenly, two figures jumped down in front of her that Sakura did not recognize. Cursing her luck once more, she continued her forward movement toward the two immobile people. She vaguely recognized them from the Bingo book as two of Sasuke's little cronies, but she could not for the life of her recall their names. The two were standing only a few feet apart and they were right in front of the rickety old gates that led out of the damned place. Biting her lip and firming her resolve, she neared them at her breakneck pace and sucked in a breath as she allowed her feet to slip out in front of her. Sakura quickly slid between the two startled shinobi as dust kicked up around her form. She jolted a little when her feet his the metal of the gate, but continued until she was positive she was outside and in the village.

Scrambling to a stand, she awkwardly took off on a run to the village walls so she could meet with Itachi. Masking her chakra so Sasuke could not follow her to his brother, she let her voice carry back to the man she had once convinced herself that she loved.

"I listened because he gave me an opportunity to be someone. Someone who you never saw in me." She could almost feel him cringe at her words, but ignored it as she allowed a small feeling of victory to wash over her. Finally, she had done something right in three long years.

_'I'm finally reaching for the light of day.'_

* * *

_The night is long that never finds the day. -From Macbeth by William Shakespeare_

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**A/N: Well, I hoped you enjoyed that. I actually thought it flowed quite nicely! It was fun for me to write and I'm finally going deeper into the plot with Sakura and Itachi. Sasuke made an appearance…you can read my opinions on him on my profile.**

**A sincere thank you to all of you that continue to review. Your words seriously make my day, and keep me from going insane. I love to know what you think, and a review shows me that you took time out of your day to slap some words down to either praise or criticize my work. Truly, I don't give a rat's ass about whether you love it, like it, or hate it…just tell me!**

_Contest Time: _**Meilin Son **_wins the contest to have a cameo appearance in this story. Just PM me with your ideas on a character! Congratulations!_


	8. Shattering the Glass

**A/N: Well, I finally got this chapter up! I'm sorry, and I know you're probably sick of hearing that, that this took so long. I was having major writer's block for the ending of this chapter. So, I'm sorry if it kind of blew the big one, but it's a major plot point that needed to be covered.**

**Thanks to all that reviewed: konanxpein0, Fictitious Ramen, iluvkiba44, crzyaznsroxursox, Yushike-Sama, BEN-Beyond the Elusive Nomads, lehcar-light, StaYgolden3262, Meilin Son, Sakita, black55widow, insaneonex**

**And someone pointed out that I updated exactly one year after I started this fic. To tell you the truth, I didn't even notice that until you pointed it out! I'm just that amazing! Just kidding.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. –Witty banter, perhaps? –**

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_Reason, you know, is passion's slave; perhaps, after all, it was to myself I did most harm. –From Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky_

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_Chapter 8: Shattering the Glass_

There were many things that Tenten had sworn never to do, and after the short, hour-long stay that Ino and she had participated in down at the bar, drinking anything alcoholic was easily added to the list. Actually, Ino had imbibed more liquor than she had, but she still felt nauseous at the thought of even touching one more glass of the devil liquid. Her blonde friend had been practically shoving burning cups of sake down her pallet, asking her more questions than the brunette cared to remember. So, it was with great regret and a heavy heart that Tenten had turned and fled from the tavern. Ino still probably didn't notice that she was talking to a broom. She just hoped that Deidara had enough sense to go and find the poor girl.

At the moment, Tenten was slowly walking down the hall with her hand placed firmly on the wall to keep her from stumbling. Even though she was only slightly tipsy, she really didn't want to take any more chances. Halfway up the stairs, she had fallen flat on her face, sliding down dumbly on her stomach. Somebody on the top step had turned and snickered at her before continuing on his merry way, so Tenten thought she was most likely going to shove a stick so far up somebody's ass that they were going to choke on it.

At least through all the pain, she had accomplished her original mission to forget about Hidan. Unfortunately, as she approached the door to the room they shared, she began to think about him again. Praying to Kami, or Jashin, or whichever damn god that was listening, that he wasn't awake or, in the very least away from the room, she slipped quietly (not silently because upon opening the door she had pulled too hard and stubbed her toe) into the hotel room they shared.

Fortunately, there was no sarcastic quip upon entering, so she assumed he wasn't waiting up for her. In fact, the thought of him worriedly pacing the floor, cursing her for not being back was so ridiculous that she had to laugh at herself for even thinking that he would. Upon walking around the corner though, Tenten was forced to freeze in muted horror.

"What the hell is so goddamned funny?" Hidan asked when he heard her trailed off laughter. He was seated at the small table in the corner, holding _her _box of baking soda firmly in his grasp. His face was contorted into an unusually emotionless façade, but his eyes twitched with some unidentifiable feeling.

"Um…nothing," she replied weakly. How was she supposed to explain that she had been imagining him doing just this and found it humorous?

"Bullshit, but whatever," he said as he tapped a beat with the corner of her box. Suddenly, he was completely at ease once more as he flipped one arm over the back of his chair, continuing the tapping with the other.

Tenten continued to stand there in a stupor for the next five minutes, simply counting the seconds. She was shocked, which was an understatement, that he hadn't pressed the matter. It was entirely unlike him to let things drop this easily. With extreme trepidation, she made her way over to the table and took a seat across from him.

"So, why were you looking through my stuff?" she asked, turning her gaze away from his eyes to the small, orange box that he still beat against the wood. Every movement made a sifting sound that only furthered her headache.

"Why, whatever do you mean, Panda?" he asked innocently with a gleam in his eye that promised revenge. Forgoing her hesitancy for the moment, she frowned at him with a glare that could kill.

"I _mean, _why the hell do you have _my _baking soda?" she replied with a question of her own. The question seemed to only further his glee as he smirked in satisfaction.

"Oh, you mean _this_?" He held up the box as if for her inspection and waited for her to nod before continuing. "Well, I was just kind of curious as to why the hell you have this shit in you bag."

Tenten blinked for a few moments before sighing and placing her hand on her forehead in aggravation.

"You really aren't in the position to be asking questions," she finally said, gesturing to the fact that he had ransacked her bag. For a moment, he simply smirked as he played happily with the box in question.

"And you're really not in the position to _not _be answering these questions," he replied as another glint passed through his eyes. The seconds ticked by as they stared at each other.

"Alright…fine. Do you have any idea what baking soda can do to the human body?" The question was very serious, but Hidan looked about ready to blow from laughter.

"Panda, they put this shit in cookies." The caustic reply only further frustrated the poor brunette as her hands twitched to rip his pretty little head off of his neck.

"Yes, Hidan, I was well aware of that, but that's only a small amount. On the other hand, a significantly larger amount can make your stomach explode." Tenten's final statement caused a strange quiet to overcome the room. Hidan blinked, his eyes violet in the light from the bedside lamp.

"Are you fucking serious?" he asked finally after obviously thinking it over for several minutes.

Again, the kunoichi allowed a sigh to pass through her lips at the utter ridiculousness of this situation. She shouldn't even be having this discussion after his blatant disrespect for her privacy.

"Yes, I'm very serious. The ingredients inside that box don't mesh well with the acid in your stomach, and the reaction that occurs when a person ingests too much causes the stomach to explode.

Unfortunately, she was probably the only shinobi on the face of the earth that knew this little tidbit, but this also worked to her advantage. Her opponents never suspected the seemingly harmless powder to be explosive.

Hidan now seemed thoroughly pleased with her. He stopped tapping and finally slid the little cardboard box across the table where Tenten snatched it up.

"Now that you're satisfied, I'll be going to sleep," she said and she made a move to stand up. His familiar hand around her wrist locked her in place. Shocked, she looked into his eyes and saw that they were now borderline crimson.

"Satisfied? Hardly. You ran away from me earlier. Did you think that I would just let that go?" The casual air that had settled on them before was shattered with those simple words. A chill descended onto Tenten's skin and, before she knew it, cold sweat was peppering her forehead.

"I did not run away from you. I just wanted to…get out for awhile," she replied, her voice no more than a breathy whisper from his heated stares. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she registered that when people usually lied they never used contractions.

Slowly, he walked around the table and forced her to back away so they were mere inches apart. She was now freely cursing every deity that she had ever prayed to in hopes that they might smite her where she stood. He placed his free hand on the back of her neck in an almost comforting gesture. That thought alone was enough to make Tenten believe that the apocalypse was soon to come.

"That is such bullshit that I'm almost offended," he said, his breath floating across her cheeks.

The man before her had created such a crack in her life that she wasn't even sure anymore whether to hug him or lock him in a dark room with a steel plated door. Before him and before Akatsuki, she had been a normal kunoichi with normal hopes and dreams and now she was pledging her life to one of the most infamous groups that this world had ever seen. And it was all because of _him_. If he didn't exist, maybe she could have remained holed up in her little village and married someday, and maybe she could have become a famous kunoichi, like Tsunade.

But without him, she never would have had the strength to accomplish those things. He may be a bastard straight out of hell, but after he left her life the first time, she had wanted to be someone that he wouldn't regret setting free…and at the same time, someone he didn't regret staying with. Because _her _Hidan was vastly different from Akatsuki Hidan. In fact, they were so different that the lines between the love she felt and the hate she felt was blurred. And with the wavering of her inner emotions, she felt a thin split forming along the edges of her personality, like a crack in the glass.

And when his lips finally crashed into her own, something shattered.

* * *

Yamanaka Ino slammed down yet another empty cup. Her vision was beginning to falter and her head was swimming, but, all that aside, she felt a very nice warmth settling over her bones. By this point, she probably wouldn't care if Deidara walked in with a machete a put it through his own head.

"So seriously, Ten, you're going to have to get this off your chest. I know there's something wrong, I can see it in your eyes," she said with a slight slur affecting the ease with which the words were spoken. The blonde didn't even bother looking over at her friend. She knew what she'd see, a pathetic lump of human. It was the picture that Tenten had been portraying all night.

"Um, honey, I don't think she's going to be answering you." The bartender had been very courteous all night and Ino could vaguely remember what she looked like before the alcohol had started messing up her brain.

The woman behind the bar had beautiful black hair that fell down her shoulders in a mass of cascading curls. A few wisps of bangs came around and framed her face, accentuating her expressive viridian eyes. She had a very cherubic countenance that seemed almost appropriate matched with her attire. The dress she wore was very Western in style with flowing black skirts that melted with her hair and a lacy bodice that tied up the back in a corset. At the moment, her eyes were set with concern.

"Huh?" The intelligent response left her lips before she could even comprehend what she was saying. The woman grimaced and placed a hand over the kunoichi's.

"Unless you want those bristles to start talking, in which case I think I should take away your drinks, then I don't believe you're going to receive an answer," she said with a little pat on Ino's hand.

At this point, Ino was thoroughly confused. So, she looked at her friend only to find a broom propped up against Tenten's empty chair. Tenten had obviously put a lot of thought into the substitution as it was turned slightly to look like it was listening to her. The warmth slipped away as she glared at the poor unsuspecting cleaning appliance.

"Well, that's just ridiculous," she said as she angrily pushed the broom over. She cringed slightly as it clattered loudly to the floor. The glare didn't leave her face as she secretly wished it would spontaneously combust.

"Obviously you enjoy making a spectacle of yourself," said a deep, masculine voice that seemed smooth as silk. Shocked, the blonde flipped around to look at the occupant of the chair next to her. Uchiha Itachi sat there calmly and was already gathering the attention of Akemi, the bartender.

Ino then decided that she would much rather see Itachi spontaneously combust.

"Where the hell have you been? I haven't seen you since this morning and you didn't check in with the rest of us," she demanded. It wasn't so much Itachi that she was angry with, it was just the fact that he happened to be the first person she could take her anger out on. Of course, some poor, little voice in the back of her head was warning her against this, but it was ruthlessly squashed.

"I was unaware that my whereabouts were any of your personal concerns," he replied, smoothly and effectively crushing Ino's last vestiges of patience.

"Alright, look, I just got baled on by one of my supposed best friends and found out I've been talking to a freaking broom for only God knows how long. So, I really _don't _need a stick-up-my-ass Uch-," she began only to be distracted by a small flash of pink. Delicately, she reached out and snatched a piece of hair off of Itachi's cloak. Bringing it closer to her face in the dim, tavern lights, she saw that it was indeed pink.

"You've been with Sakura," she said in a significantly smaller voice than she started out with. The little strand dropped from her pale, limp fingers and floated to the dirt-covered floor.

"She was merely retrieving something of importance for me," he state, nonplussed by her sudden attitude change.

"I hope _she _isn't that something of importance," Ino said as Akemi placed a bottle of warmed sake in front of the stoic shinobi. As much as Ino missed Sakura, she didn't really want her out here, putting her life in the Uchiha's hands. At least Deidara was somewhat dependable. Besides, Sakura still didn't remember their first encounter with the Akatsuki.

At the statement, Itachi finally glanced at her from the corner of his eye as if to question whether she was worth the effort it took to reply.

"No, she is safe inside the walls of Konoha," he said after a long moment of silence. The sarcastic undertone of his words made Ino furrow her eyebrows.

Fully prepared to let the matter drop, she turned back to the bar to ask for a sobering glass of water. Then, his voice interrupted her order.

"She has requested that I train her," he said as though he was making small talk. Her blonde hair flipped over her shoulder as she regarded Itachi once more.

"And?" she asked, hating the way the word stumbled past her lips. The shock she felt from the fact that Sakura would trust him with her training was astonishing. Ino wouldn't trust him with a goddamned paperclip.

"I accepted," he replied, while casually stirring the contents of his cup. The rice wine sloshed up the side of the glass, creating the only sound that could be heard between the pair. Ino's face was contorted in horror. Sakura didn't need to have _another _Uchiha bastard screwing with her life. She must attract them. Luckily, to her knowledge there were only two left or Sakura would be beating off hordes of them.

"You better not fuck with her, Uchiha, or I swear on all that is holy that I will rip off your tentacles and shove them down your throat," she ground out after a long pause. With that said, she stood up and stormed from the bar in a heated frenzy, practically shoving people out of her way.

Itachi merely watched her go with a small smirk playing on his features that would be invisible to those that weren't looking. Him? Fuck with people?

_Never._

* * *

Meanwhile, Deidara was standing in a meeting with Pein. The blonde artist had never particularly enjoyed being alone in the presence of the powerful leader of Akatsuki. Something about the way his eyes peered into his own made shivers go through his body. It wasn't a very good feeling.

Currently, said leader was doing just that and he seemed to be dragging out the time by simply staring into Deidara's pure, blue eyes. Finally, just before Deidara lost his patience and _made _Pein start talking, he began speaking.

"I am fed up with being unable to capture the kyuubi," he said, effectively shocking Deidara into a stupor. Of all the things that his leader could want to talk about, this was the last thing that he had been expecting. It wasn't _his _fault that Itachi was too incompetent to catch Naruto. Thinking of the fox-like blonde made Deidara grind his teeth. The little bastard just didn't know how to _give up. _

"Yes, I can understand that," he replied to the unexpected statement, "What do you plan to do about it?"

The question was completely reasonable. Pein wouldn't have called for an audience with him if he didn't have some idea of what he was going to do, and this plan obviously entailed Deidara having to do _something_.

"I plan to go after him myself," he said without any moment of pause between the question and the answer. Once more, Deidara was knocked into a silent stupor. The little brat didn't stand a chance now. But, that still didn't answer the question as to why he was standing here now.

Deidara cocked an eyebrow in a way that said to keep going with the explanation. That was all the preemption that Pein needed.

"I'm going to infiltrate Konoha with Tenten and capture the kyuubi," he continued. Both of the artist's eyebrows shot up at the brunettes' inclusion into this plan. "She will be able to give me a more recent map of Konoha than Itachi, and besides I have other things I need Itachi to do, such as distracting Sakura-san. She would be too much of an annoyance if she tried to intercept our plans."

_Sakura? What the hell is _Itachi _doing with Sakura? _Deidara was completely confused at this point. Obviously, there were things going on outside of his knowledge. He didn't really _like _Itachi, in fact it was just the opposite, but Sakura was Ino's best friend. The fact that the Uchiha was messing around with her didn't really sit well in his stomach.

"Now, what I need Ino and you to do is to create a distraction large enough to get a rather decent sized amount of Konoha's shinobi away from Naruto. From what I've gathered, they are keeping the boy under very strict lock and key since they learned that he was the last jinchuurikki that we needed to capture in order to fulfill our goal. They wouldn't present a problem so much as a nuisance. Do you understand?"

Deidara knew very well that Pein wasn't really asking if he understood. There wasn't a question of what he had to do. He was going to do exactly as Pein wanted, but he didn't know why Ino was getting dragged into this. She wasn't even his partner for god's sake. What was Hidan going to be doing that she couldn't just stay with him? It was going to destroy her inside to have to face her village.

Then it dawned on him.

He was trying to ensure her loyalty. Not just Ino's, but Tenten's too. Itachi would have been sufficient in giving Pein directions into Konoha. How much could one village change? It was ridiculous, and yet it made sense. The thought made him frown slightly.

"Yes, I understand," he said. Pein nodded and waved a hand to dismiss him. Deidara turned on his heel and left the leader's room before moving to get to his own.

Opening the door to the hotel room he shared with Ino, he found the blonde kunoichi face down on the bed, her face effectively buried in her pillow.

"Ino?" he called out. She jumped slightly, proving that she wasn't expecting his entrance and was too deep in thought to have noticed his chakra signature.

"Yes," she replied. Her voice was muffled by the fabric of the pillow, making it near impossible for him to understand the monosyllabic reply. But he could hear the tone her voice had taken. She was upset about something.

"Something the matter, un?" he asked while taking a seat on the edge of the bed next to her. His usual speech pattern was coming back now that he was out of the meeting with Pein.

"I'm just confused," she said as she flipped around so she was lying on her back staring up at him. He reached out and began to thread his fingers through her platinum blonde hair. The action made her close her eyes and lean into his touch. He could smell the alcohol on her breath, but obviously whatever was troubling her had made her sober up rather quickly.

"About what, un?" he asked, trying his best to comfort her. He wasn't at all used to this kind of contact, but with her it just seemed to flow naturally like he was born to make her happy. She sighed at the question and opened her eyes.

"It's Sakura. She's letting _Itachi_, of all people, train her," she said, her voice sounding exasperated. The statement made his fingers pause for a moment in their duty. Just as quickly he continued running them through her hair. She still managed to notice his hesitation. "What? What is it?"

Ino began to sit up on the bed, worry for her friend making her want to be useful. Deidara placed a hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her back down. She frowned at the action and smacked his hand away from her shoulder. This made him sigh, and he turned more fully toward her.

"It's nothing. I just agree with you. It's strange that she would want him to train her when she's been taught since birth to hate him, un," he said, lying to her. He hated the feeling of lying to her. She nodded slowly, obviously believing him, before closing her eyes once more. The fact that she believed him made the pit in his stomach made from lying to her that much worse. Resigning himself, he began to stroke her arm gently.

His ministrations quickly caused her fall into slumber. Deidara continued to rub her bare skin, allowing him to lose himself in thought.

Well, that certainly explained Pein's statement about Itachi and Sakura. Deidara wondered if Itachi was following some order from the leader or if he was really just training Sakura under her wishes. The blonde artist was unwilling to give the Uchiha the benefit of the doubt.

Glancing at Ino's placid, unconscious state made something in him angry with himself for agreeing with Pein's little escapade. Ino didn't deserve to be put through that agony. It wasn't her fault that he decided to impose himself in her life. His thoughts made some small part of himself firm a resolve.

He would make sure she wasn't put through any unnecessary pain.

Just because he understood didn't mean he agreed.

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_Let me not to the marriage of true minds_

_Admit impediments. Love is not love_

_Which alters when it alteration finds, _

_Or bends with the remover to remove:_

_O no! it is an ever-fixed mark_

_That looks on tempest and is never shaken;_

_It is the star to every wandering bark,_

_Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken._

_Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks_

_Within his bending sickle's compass come:_

_Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,_

_But bears it out even to the edge of doom._

_If this be error and upon me proved,_

_I never writ, nor no man ever loved._

_Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare_

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**A/N: Well, another one down the drain. These thing's are getting harder and harder to turn out because I know we're getting closer to the end. It's kind of a sad prospect. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.**

**A sincere thank you to all of you that continue to review. Your words seriously make my day, and keep me from going insane. I love to know what you think, and a review shows me that you took time out of your day to slap some words down to either praise or criticize my work. Truly, I don't give a rat's ass about whether you love it, like it, or hate it…just tell me!**

**And another huge thank you goes out to Meilin Son for coming up with Akemi, the lovely bartender. She'll be making more appearances!**


	9. A Building Storm

**A/N: Well, I've recently realized that I'm becoming very bad with turning out new chapters on time. I don't even really have a proper excuse other than I graduated from high school, and I started college. I know, I know…it's pathetic, but I did think that you all should know that I did the graduation speech for my class! It was rather amazing to be chosen for something like that. I was so proud. Anyways, here's the newest chapter of The Howling.**

**_Note: To all of you that read Transported, it is being temporarily put on hiatus (for real, I swear I won't completely abandon it) because of my desire to finish this story. I have the ideas for this fresh in my mind, and also I would like to revise the first chapter because I am severely dissatisfied with how it turned out._**

**Thanks to all reviewers of the last chapter: Fictitious Ramen, WolfXArcher, Twilightbbe11, blondebaka-chan, Kendra43210, Grayback, Hazuki Ninja, lehcar-light, Sakita, Meilin Son, White Eye Lover, Animewolfgirl70, Nannon-chan (I love you that you read even under threats ^^), and Uchihas1010Hyuuga.**

**To all of the above-mentioned people, thank you so much for sticking with me…your reviews are really more than I deserve. Much love to every single one of you.**

**Also, a very special thank you to Animewolfgirl70 for making an anime music video for this story. Everyone should check it out. The link will be on my profile shortly!**

**Inspiration Music (I decided I like this section more than I previously thought): The Theft by Atreyu, Silver and Cold by A.F.I, The New Divide by Linkin Park, and The Howling by Within Temptation

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**

_Light...like the flutter of wings__  
Feel your hollow voice rushing  
__Into me...as your longing to sing  
__So I...I will paint you in sliver  
__I will wrap you in cold  
I will lift up your voice as...I sink._

_-From Silver and Cold by A.F.I

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_Chapter 9: A Building Storm_

The clock on her mantelpiece was beating a constant rhythm into her already aching head. She was half tempted to throw her shoe at it, but that would have been a waste of a perfectly good shoe. Gathering what strength she had left, she brought her hand to her head and combed her fingers agitatedly through her pink hair. About halfway through, her fingers got caught on a rather stubborn knot, and she groaned in frustration. Wasn't it enough that she had been training almost the entire night? Did her hair really have to be just as much of an asshole as _he _was? Of course it did.

Sakura had just returned from a late night training session with Itachi, and she was intensely sore from all of the movements that he had put her through. He was some kind of slave driver, and she never hated anyone more than she did in that moment. It had only been a week since they had started training together and he was already number one on her hit list.

Not that he was bad at training her. No, actually he had improved her so much in the short week that she barely recognized her own talent. He was simply the single most aggravating person on the planet. He barely ever spoke to her when they trained; he merely pointed out what she was to do and then went about his own business. Sakura wanted to scream, or more likely throw him at her severely annoying clock.

It was already nine in the morning, and she had failed, once again, to get any sleep. Her mind was too busy to get any real rest because even though she hated him immensely she always felt like there was something missing when she was with him. As if there was some important memory she should be thinking about. This, in the end, caused her headache. That and the fact that he was so ambiguous. Every time she tried to get to know him better by asking him questions (she never asked about the past, she knew more about self preservation than that), he ignored her in favor of doing something else. She really had no idea how he came up with _something _to do in the small clearing they trained in _every day_, but he somehow managed it.

Sighing, she rubbed her eyes with more force than necessary and got off her couch. She had collapsed on it right when she got home and never found the energy to go to her bed. Tousling the long strands of her hair after taking it from the ponytail it was confined in, she stalked into the small bathroom in her apartment.

Slowly, Sakura stripped off all of her clothing and stepped into a long awaited shower. The warm water did wonders for her sore muscles, and she could feel the knots in her shoulders ease out. It also helped her head but not by much, and, by the time she left the sanctuary of her bathroom with a towel firmly in place around her, she wanted to yank out her hair from the pain.

Suddenly, there was a banging on her door. Practically seething in anger because the knocking was only intensifying the throbbing in her skull, Sakura quickly dressed in her customary shinobi outfit and threw open her apartment door.

"What the hell do you want?" At the moment, she really didn't care who it was she just wanted them to go away and leave her in relative peace. Maybe she could convince them to take that infernal clock. Then, the world stopped.

"Wow, Sakura-chan, I'm happy to see you too." Naruto stood in the hallway looking, for all intents and purposes, like the happiest person alive. Sakura scratched everything she had thought earlier because she definitely cared that she had just yelled at Naruto.

He had been kept in the hospital for the entirety of her mission with Team Kurenai, and she simply didn't have the nerve to visit him before or after that. She felt a hole inside of her being torn open at the sight of him. It hurt to see him while knowing that she was off fraternizing with the enemy every night.

"Naruto, I thought you were still in the hospital," she said rather lamely. Her thoughts were too jumbled to form an actual intellectual response.

"Well, I had to get better sometime, didn't I? They finally released me last night. I asked if you were working, but they said that you had requested off the evenings," he replied with a bright smile on his face that was rather contagious, but she wasn't in the mood for smiles. Blinking a few times, she noticed that he was holding something under his arm.

"Naruto, what is that?" she asked even though she knew perfectly well what it was. Her body was already protesting the thought. At her question, he perked up considerably, and she wondered aimlessly how that was even possible.

"Well, I've missed you and the others told me that you've been scarce ever since you returned from that mission with Hinata's team. So, I decided that we should get together and play some soccer! Like in the old days when we used to play for fun. Remember?" How could she forget? When they had all been genin's, they used to get together and play soccer for fun. It was a way to keep them all friends through all the turmoil and competition of being a new ninja.

"Okay…I guess I'll oblige you this time," she said in a falsely reluctant tone. In truth, she had missed Naruto and her other friends, but she had been too chicken to go search them out for company. The whole deal with Itachi was more of a conundrum than she had first expected it to be. This game gave her an excuse to merely have some fun with all of them. Well, almost all of them.

"I know it won't really be the same without Ino, Sasuke, and Tenten, but we can make it work," he said, his demeanor only slightly deflating. Their soccer games had been put to a quick halt without Sasuke being there. It felt too weird for Naruto and Sakura to play without him.

Quickly, Sakura ran to her kitchen and grabbed a water bottle out of her refrigerator. She paused for a moment, and then took another one for Naruto. After that, she rushed back to her apartment door and left with her best friend.

The pair was silent for most of the walk to the training field where they would play. It was only broken when one of them made a comment on the surroundings, which sounded lame in Sakura's ears. They were best friends and the best thing they could talk about was the weather? It was rather pathetic.

"So, who's coming to this little outing?" she asked with what she hoped was cheer in her voice. She wasn't exactly looking forward to seeing _some _of the people that she used to hang out with.

"Well, you know, the usual," he said casually. Sakura's insides cringed at that. The usual meant that _Kiba _was going to be there, and she still wasn't on friendly terms with him since their last mission. Actually, she didn't know whom she wanted to throw at that clock, Kiba or Itachi.

After walking to training ground twelve, which happened to be the best place to play games, they sat on a protruding tree root that was on the sidelines. They were the first people there, which rather surprised Sakura since she seemed to be the last person Naruto had come to with this plan. Awkwardly, she tucked a stray piece of long hair behind her ear.

"Why don't you cut it again?" Naruto asked with pure curiosity. The silence had been so complete moments before that Sakura nearly flew into the tree branches at the question. For a moment, she didn't exactly know what he meant until she noticed his pointed stare at her hair.

"I don't know. I never thought I'd let it get long again, but I didn't really have a say in what it did while I was…incapacitated, and I just haven't found the initiative to cut it short again," she replied. Her answer brought another silence, and she cursed her inability to come up with a proper topic to talk about.

"Why didn't you come visit me while I was in the hospital? I thought for sure when I heard you were yourself again that you would come rushing to see me. It hurt when you never did." The sincerity in his words caused Sakura to want to beat her head on the tree behind her. It wasn't fair that she was keeping all these secrets from him when he was nothing but honest with her. She opened her mouth to answer him.

"Hey Naruto! Why'd you invite the charity case?" The loud voice tore through the peace that had settled through the clearing, and a few birds fled at the sound.

"Kiba, she happens to be my best friend. Of course I was going to invite her." Naruto's defense of her caused another wave of hurt to crash over her. He was so ready to stick up for her, and she couldn't even tell him one little thing. Well, it wasn't really little.

The rest of the group had shown up. Kiba walked side by side with Shino and Hinata, and behind him were Shikamaru, Chouji, Lee, and Neji, which was surprising. If there was one person that was more secluded than her it was Neji. Ever since the encounter with Tenten in the forest, he was very closed off from the world and only left the Hyuuga compound if it was absolutely necessary.

"We're going to have uneven numbers," Sakura said aloud to the group. That had never been a problem before, but now with three missing people it was a very obvious challenge. Everyone immediately seemed slightly gloomier at her proclamation. Neji outright turned around and almost left. Lee grabbed his shoulder before he could though, and now they were all stuck with a very angry Hyuuga.

"I'm just going to sit on the sidelines and keep score. Playing is too troublesome," Shikamaru said as he slouched off and sat beneath a tree. Glancing at him, Sakura noticed that he was also very subdued, which was saying something for the lazy genius. He was obviously upset about Ino's disappearance.

After Shikamaru decided to be the party pooper, they were able to evenly split into teams. Naruto automatically proclaimed Sakura as one team leader, which made Kiba say some very nasty things. Then, because he got so pissed off, Naruto made Kiba the other team leader. Sakura was extremely excited about the prospect of facing off against her number one adversary, as of now anyways. Itachi was a very, very close second. Sakura chose Naruto, Chouji, and got stuck with Neji, while Kiba got Shino, Hinata, and Lee.

The two teams squared off against each other across the field, and Shikamaru reluctantly pulled himself off the ground. Kiba gave a little smirk with his lip pulled menacingly over his right canine. Sakura narrowed her eyes at the obvious display of his supposed dominance over her.

She would kick his ass into next week.

"Alright, just play already," Shikamaru said with a lazy wave of his hand, and they immediately launched themselves at the ball and each other.

The blood bath began.

* * *

Tenten's footsteps were achingly loud in the hallway. She thought that her simple movement may awaken the demons down in hell. All the better, though. Anything that got her away from her current situation would be a godsend, even being dragged away by fiery devils sounded better than continuing with her life.

"_I need your assistance."_

Her entire body was working on autopilot. Any other moves would probably cause her to self destruct. It was no wonder _now_ why Deidara had been treating her oddly all week. His small gestures of comfort were beginning to get unsettling. Then, this happened.

"_We are going to infiltrate Konoha and gather the kyuubi."_

She hated herself. What the hell had she been thinking? Naruto was like a little brother to her. Even imagining his death brought a feeling of nausea to pass over her. It was unlike anything she had ever experienced in her entire life, this feeling of helplessness, of drowning under the weight of her decisions.

"_The final phase of the plan will be set into motion with this development."_

Sakura would surely wish for her death, if she didn't already. They were supposed to be best friends. What the _hell _was wrong with her? Nothing was worth this betrayal. Of course, she felt like she wasn't worth much of anything anymore.

"_We leave in three weeks."_

It just wasn't fair! Her entire being protested it, so why couldn't she just listen for once. She had allowed herself to live in false delusions for too long, and this, this truth, was the price she had to pay. Why had she let herself believe that they were different? It seemed so stupid of her. It all seemed so insignificant in the face of _this_.

"_Do you understand?"_

Why did he have to ask her _that _question? She could perfectly understand the situation and what was expected of her, but that didn't mean she _agreed_. Pein knew the answer to her question would answer both, however. His voice continued to reverberate through her skull as she dragged herself down the hallway. But he seemed small compared to the other voice shouting inside of her, the one that had answered his question.

"_Yes, I understand."

* * *

_

Hidan allowed himself to fall back on the bed as he sensed Tenten making her way down the hall towards their room. He felt _almost _bad for her because she had been summoned to a meeting with the Leader. It was no secret that he disliked Pein. Everybody saw on a daily basis how disrespectful he was to him. It had only gotten worse after _that _day. The damn bastard thought he could make him fall in line like the rest of those brainless idiots using torture? What a complete asshole. Hidan couldn't die, and he practically got off on pain. There was no sense in torturing him.

He heard Tenten ghost through the door and noticed that she let the door merely float closed. Usually his panda was so worked up she slammed the door. His suspicions only heightened when she came around the corner looking like someone had kicked her puppy. He hated when she looked like that. It made her seem like a drowned rat and that was totally unbecoming of a kunoichi.

Tenten walked silently around him and the bed and took a seat at the table they had been sitting at that night a week ago. She slumped down with her shoulders hunched as though she was protecting herself from something. Hidan could tell that her eyes weren't focused on anything in the room. She looked so damn depressed that her _hair _was limp in her traditional buns. He didn't know how that was possible, but she was definitely pulling it off.

She was fucking pissing him _off._

"What the hell happened, Panda?" he asked sharply. His voice cut through the voices swimming in her head, and she snapped her head up to look at him. Now, her features were contorted in something he could only classify as rage.

"You want to know what happened, _Hidan_?" Tenten hissed at him. Her eyes were burning holes into his skull. He was now very shocked. _'Is she going through fucking menopause or something?'_

"Um, yes." Hidan was rarely unsure of anything, but with her practically breathing fire at him, he couldn't help but be a little cautious.

"_You _happened. This is _all _your fault! If I hadn't come here with you like some stupid girl chasing impossible dreams, then I wouldn't be in this situation. I'm about to go sentence one of my best friends to death…" Tenten's voice trailed off at the end of her rant. She was going back to the pathetic stage, and Hidan was very pissed off again.

"First of all, I don't know what the fuck you're talking about, and second, I don't know who the fuck you think you are! I didn't hear you complaining when I asked you to come with me. You even said you were glad that you came with me! You could have stayed in Konoha with Mr. Prissy Pants, but you _chose me_! So, unless you get off on torturing yourself than this is _your _fault, not mine," he said with finality. His eyes were a smoldering crimson.

During the course of his little speech, Tenten had dissolved into tears. She _knew _he was right, but that didn't make the knowledge any easier to digest. All she wanted to do was go back in time and stop herself from speaking those words to Hidan. Why did she always say yes to this shit?

"You don't have to cry, damn it," Hidan said as he took a seat next to her. His voice was awkward, showing he obviously had no idea what he was doing when dealing with emotionally wrecked females.

"Yes I do. Pein just had me agree to go to Konoha with him to capture Naruto. I'm so stupid," she said. She was physically shaking now, making her words harder to understand, but Hidan caught every little syllable. His anger dissipated, leaving in its wake a horrible pit in his stomach.

"Why would you agree to something like that?" His words came out shocked, which seemed odd considering Tenten had never once witnessed him in a real state of surprise. He always seemed so in control of himself, while he let her flounder around like an idiot. His words, though, gave her pause.

Why _was _she going through with this? It's not like anyone was holding a kunai to her head and making her do it. Of course, the decision still wasn't an easy one to make. Akatsuki was making her choose between her former home and the organization, which should have been a simple answer. She would never abandon the people she loved. It was as straightforward as that. Then, why didn't she say no? In the end, the question boiled to down to simpler compounds. It wasn't her former home she was betraying. It was her friends. And for what? Surely not Akatsuki. No, it wasn't the organization that she had pledged her life to that she made this terrible commitment to. It was one person _inside _that organization that made her say yes, and he was currently sitting right next to her. So, what did that say about her?

"Kami! Don't you know?" Her voice exploded around the room. Hidan would have jumped if he wasn't a highly trained shinobi, as it was he only twitched a little.

"Panda, you know damn well I have no idea what you're talking about," he said, his frustration clearly obvious from his tone. She was back to being angry, and he was about ready to lock her in a padded room so she wouldn't hurt herself. _'More like hurt me.'_

Tenten looked about ready to claw his eyes out, but he could also see the tears building up behind her chocolate eyes. It seemed she had come to some terrifying realization that she wanted him to pick up on.

"Fuck, Hidan! I'm so stupid. You can't even tell how I'm feeling," she said in a whisper. The sentence was a drastic change from her earlier outburst, and it only further ticked off Hidan. He damn well _knew _how she was feeling. He was probably keeping better track of her emotions than she was.

"I know how you fee-," he began before he was cut off by her small voice whispering three words he had never heard directed at him in his entire life.

"I love you."

* * *

_Decisions been made obvious  
So I will return  
Where I started I'll stay there  
Unfinished I'll wither away_

_-From The Theft by Atreyu

* * *

_

**A/N: I'm not sure if that was a cruel place to stop or not. Why don't you let me know? Unfortunately, I have an English paper that I desperately need to start, so I can't write more. Thanks again to all those who continue to review!**

_But still we have our responsibilities as readers and even our importance. The standards we raise and the judgments we pass steal into the air and become part of the atmosphere which writers breathe as they work. An influence is created which tells upon them even if it never finds its way into print. And that influence, if it were well instructed, vigorous and individual and sincere, might be of great value now when criticism is necessarily in abeyance; when books pass in review like the procession of animals in a shooting gallery, and the critic has only one second in which to load and aim and shoot and may well be pardoned if he mistakes rabbits for tigers, eagles for barndoor fowls, or misses altogether and wastes his shot upon some peaceful cow grazing in a further field. If behind the erratic gunfire of the press the author felt that there was another kind of criticism, the opinion of people reading for the love of reading, slowly and unprofessionally, and judging with great sympathy and yet with great severity, might this not improve the quality of his work? And if by our means books were to become stronger, richer, and more varied, that would be an end worth reaching. –From "How Should One Read a Book?" by Virginia Woolf_

**In other words, review!**


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